Monday, December 08, 2008

Worker Sit In

Here's an interesting story out of Chicago. It was in the Post and made two of the national news casts tonight.

It's seems Republic Windows and Doors went bankrupt last week. It fired all of its workers with just a few days notice. It seems the company is not going to be paying them any of the vacation pay they are due.

The main creditor to Republic Windows and Doors is Bank of America which got bailout money. The workers are saying since Bank of America got bailed out they should too. All sorts of people are weighing in on this. From the President Elect:

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

To the Illinois Governor:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered all state agencies Monday to stop doing business with Bank of America (BAC) to try to pressure the bank into helping laid-off workers staging a sit-in at their shuttered factory.

"We hope that this kind of leverage and pressure will encourage Bank of America to do the right thing for this business," Blagojevich said from outside the plant. "Take some of that federal tax money that they've received and invest it by providing the necessary credit to this company so these workers can keep their jobs."

The company is blaming the Bank of America saying in part:

the company can't pay its 300 employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them. Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors."


I'm not sure how this will play out or who is exactly right on this. But I have a feeling this will not be the last of these types of protests we'll be seeing..

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