CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2008
Illinois Workers Continue Sit-In Protest
Gov. Orders State To Stop Doing Business With Bank Whose Withdrawal Of Credit Led To Plant Closing
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Play CBS Video Video Laid Off And Not Leaving After being let go with three days notice, laid off Chicago factory workers refuse to leave and have staged a sit-in protest.
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Video Main Street Fights Back A factory in Chicago laid off 300 workers with just three days notice after Bank of America cut off the business' line of credit. Now workers want their bailout. Dean Reynolds reports.
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Mario Neria stands in the doorway at the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Dec. 6, 2008 in Chicago. Workers laid off from their jobs at the factory have occupied the building since Friday and are demanding assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)
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Workers and supporters line the factory floor Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago. The band of 200 workers demanding severance and vacation pay have become a national symbol for the millions of laid-off workers across the country. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Section Weathering The Downturn In this economy, it's smart to save. CBS News shows you how.
The move is leverage to convince the North Carolina-based bank to use some of its federal bailout money to resolve the situation at Republic Windows and Doors.
The company closed last week with just a few days' notice.
Blagojevich says banks got bailout money and should provide lines of credit to businesses that need it so workers can keep working.
The announcement came after Blagojevich met with the workers on Monday.
"We expect these banks to bail out these businesses," the governor said, reports CBS Station WBBM.
The state also will get a federal court injunction Tuesday to make sure federal law is followed so workers get benefits like severance and vacation pay.
The move comes on the fourth day of a sit-in by more than 200 workers at Republic Windows, who have become a national symbol for thousands of employees who have lost their jobs as the economy continues to sour.
"What we really want here is to save the jobs. Because this is 300 people without jobs," mechanic Vincente Rangel told CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.
"We never expected this," said Melvin Maclin, a factory employee and vice president of the local union that represents the workers. "We expected to go to jail."
The employees were let go from their jobs last week with only three days' notice and no severance pay.
They claim this is a violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) which says employees must have 60 days' notice or severance pay in the event of a plant closing or mass layoff.
According to workers, the company can't pay them because their creditor, Bank of America, won't let them. The company told the union that Bank of America has canceled its financing.
The bank had said in a statement that it wasn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.
The workers have consequently refused to leave until they receive their rightful benefits, and they are blocking the removal of any assets from the plant.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said her office was investigating the company, which has not commented on the sit-in.
"The reason they're here is they've got nothing left to lose," organizer Leah Fried of United Electrical Workers told CBS' The Early Show. "They were told on Tuesday of last week they were out of a job on Friday and penniless on the street.
"People have been very strong, very united and they're not going anywhere until they win justice."
Bank of America (as Republic's creditor) now owns the company's assets. That, says Fried, makes them responsible. "These workers are owed their vacation pay and if this factory continues to stay closed, then they're owed 60 days' pay under the WARN Act."
Fried says Bank of America - which recently received $25 billion from the government financial firm bailout - should be held responsible. "I think we need to hold them accountable for what they do to our economy and whether or not they are investing in jobs, whether or not they're keeping people employed."
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United Electrical Workers
"That is not right to throw people out on the street with nothing," she said. The reason they're here is they've got nothing left to lose.
Leah FriedUnited Electrical Workers
Fried said the laid-off employees are simply protecting the products of their labor. "There are hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of windows in this company which are ready to be delivered [that] these workers worked to manufacture, [and] they're not getting paid," Fried told Rodriguez. "All they're simply doing is placing a lien for their work and saying let's respect the law.
"They worked real hard," she said. "We have workers here 34 years. They made this company the success that it is. And on the eve of Christmas, they shouldn't simply be thrown out on the street. And if the federal government can't intervene to protect these workers, then I think we're failing in our main obligation."
And how long will they stay at the plant? "As long as it takes," Fried said. "They're not giving up. They are incredibly strong and united."
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said from the shuttered plant that he would talk to fellow senators about reminding banks that taxpayer dollars are not for dividends or executive salaries.
"We have been sending billions of dollars to banks like Bank of America, and the reason we have sent them the money is to tell them that they had to loan this money out to companies just like Republic so that we can keep these companies in business and not lose these jobs here in the United States," he said.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has organized a meeting between representatives of the union, Republic and Bank of America for 4 p.m. this afternoon. "We want to end the finger-pointing," he told The Early Show. "Whether it's the company or Bank of America, let's open up the books. The company has agreed to come and sign a release, a waiver, so we can look at the books and see where the money is at.
"Look, you guys are reporting on what we did for the financial industry," he said. "$700 billion, another $15 billion or $20 billion for the automobile industry. Who is standing up for workers? We think the federal government has to make sure that the WARN Act, which says that these workers are due 60 days of pay and health benefits, has to be enforced. Let's make sure the federal government does its job with these workers, not with just those on Wall Street.
"This is Main Street here."
(AP Photo/Eric Y. Exit)
"These workers deserve their wages, deserve fair notice, deserve health security," Jackson said. "This may be the beginning of long struggle of worker resistance, finally."
President-elect Barack Obama, weighing in on behalf of the workers, told a news conference Sunday that Republic Windows and Doors should follow through on its commitments to the employees.
"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.
One of the factory's workers, Silvia Mazon, said in Spanish that she needs the money owed to her for an $1,800 monthly house payment. The 40-year-old from Cicero said she has enough money saved to survive for one month.
"We're making history," she said.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, called it the start of a movement. "This story has resonated around the world," she said.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 340 Comments
Oh, so the bank is now responsible for something
the bank did not do, nor did it have power to do.
Guess this means that when a car is repo''''d
the new buyer must pay the old note.
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Posted by rushlimpdrug
No. A new buyer would not have to pay the old loan of a repo''d car. But that is not the same thing as this situation.
This is more like: You hire workers to build you a house. You spent the money instead of paying your workers, or the house cost more than you''d budgeted for, or whatever the reason....the workers who built that house did not get paid everything that was legallly owed to them. The workers who did not get paid would file lien on the property. So now if that house is ever sold or any proceeds are ever made, they will get the money. If a bank takes the house, generally it is more complicated because a note holder does not necessarily have to pay off liens.
But here''s the deal, IF the workers had given the note holder the money to loan to the home builder so the home builder could in turn pay them, the worker is going to be very mad when that note holder comes in and takes the property...hence they will see ''some'' kind of return from the loan......the house builder no longer has to pay the loan...hence he''s free and clear now....so who''s left holding the empty bag?- Reply to this comment
- As much as I see myself as a kindhearted man, I admit that I wish the very worst for Bank of America. BoA is by far the most unscrupulous bank in the nation and frankly deserves a long and drawn-out death to complete collapse. To BoA: Pay these poor people once and for all and stop being so *** greedy!
- Reply to this comment
- Folks I live in Chicago and this has taken on a life of it''s own. Workers throughout the state, nation and world are watching and cheering these people on. I think ALL people who work for a living are fed up with "Trickle Down" and "Free Trade". They are tired of having to compete with China''s forced labor camps and the third world workers. Anyone who thinks this isn''t going to spread, isn''t going to cause OTHER workers to unite for their common protection is flat out of their minds. It sure as helll got the attention of EVERY politician in the City of Chicago and State of Illinois that''s for sure.
- Reply to this comment
- I heard they are waiting for Obama to show up and fix it.
Posted by hillaryin016 at 01:24 AM : Dec 09, 2008
Just about like EVERY thing else in your sad life, YOU are Heard WRONG!! - Reply to this comment
- Interesting. A bank refuses to make a risky loan and somehow they are responsible for a private companies bad business practices and the companies owners failure to meet their legal obligations.I have a suggestion, how about the City of Chicago, or the State of Illinois co-signing the loan instead of posturing for the cameras. Government coercing banks to make ill advised loans is how this whole thing got started.
Posted by AZOLDTIMER at 06:25 AM : Dec 09, 200
It would be nice if you uneducated Wingnuts would at least learn to read well enough to UNDERSTAND the issue. These workers EARNED what they have coming and are NOT going to stop guarding the assets of this Company UNTIL they get what is coming to them and their families. It''s about time workers started standing up and I was VERY impressed with the reaction of our new President on the subject. IF the bank doesn''t want to loan this Company the money, which THEY deny is fact, then sell the equipment and pay the workers. - Reply to this comment
- Interesting. A bank refuses to make a risky loan and somehow they are responsible for a private companies bad business practices and the companies owners failure to meet their legal obligations.I have a suggestion, how about the City of Chicago, or the State of Illinois co-signing the loan instead of posturing for the cameras. Government coercing banks to make ill advised loans is how this whole thing got started.
- Reply to this comment
- I think they have a maniac running that BANK...who delights in seeing people suffer. Especially those of us who are paying on time.
Posted by baicas
It''s a mob bank, the creature of the Gallo family.
Rotten to the core.
But they lapped up taxpayer dollars -- and we shelled out.
Now they are crushing American industry. - Reply to this comment
- I think they have a maniac running that BANK...who delights in seeing people suffer. Especially those of us who are paying on time.
Posted by baicas
It''s a mob bank, the creature of the Gallo family.
Rotten to the core.
But they lapped up taxpayer dollars -- and we shelled out.
Now they are crushing American industry. - Reply to this comment
- Solidarity!
- Reply to this comment
- rushlimpdrug, you are one big donkey''s a s s
- Reply to this comment
- More direct action like this is needed right across the country, the little folks have been shafted by Corporate America and government, so let us hope that this is the start of the payback. MORE
- Reply to this comment
- These workers have already won with the States Governor and Pres.-elect Obama supporting them.
Posted by spinproof
SO WHAT... Are you like the lady who said she voted for Obama because now she wouldn''t have to worry about paying her mortgage of buy gas....
Obama has proposed anything to help home owners and she is not getting any free gas... - Reply to this comment
- If I was one of the 200 I''d be out looking for a new job full time and get a jump on the other 199.
- Reply to this comment
- rushlimpdrug --you are at the bottom of the sludge barrel-you my friend are the ***.
- Reply to this comment
- Illinois Workers Continue Sit-In Protest
These workers have already won with the States Governor and Pres.-elect Obama supporting them. - Reply to this comment
Posted by Allzwell at 09:38 PM
Yeah, life is hard when you''re stupid.
These folks didn''t read about how bad the economy
was/is?
These folks did not know the importance of SAVING?
These folks did not realize that BAD things can
happen to GOOD people?
For ALL the national attention they are getting
I am willing to bet is that these people shop
at Walmart regularly.
Newsflash to these REEETARDS:
These windows can be made more cheaply in CHINA.- Reply to this comment
- Let me tell you a story about BOA which is true, they are deliberately cutting people''s credit and destroying people''s credit ratings because they have some unique criterea that each of us must jump through to get any credit from them. You could be the in good standing, making all your payments on time, no late payments, or behind in bills, they don''t care....they will still cut your credit, causing your credit rating to go down.
I think they have a maniac running that BANK...who delights in seeing people suffer. Especially those of us who are paying on time. - Reply to this comment
- We need to get a grip on the inequality that''''s all around us.
Posted by Allzwell at 09:38 PM : Dec 08, 2008
and might I add, strangle it. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by rushlimpdrug at 09:06 PM : Dec 08, 2008
Maybe you should re-read the story. Yes, they lost their jobs, but they were shafted with 3 days notice. It is a violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) which says employees must have 60 days'' notice or severance pay (as stated in the article). Period. End of argument. If they don''t have the money or can''t get a loan, they sell off their assets to cover the debt. Which brings up Bank of America and their $$$ TWENTY-FIVE BILLION DOLLAR $$$ bailout which came from OUR POCKETS... where are they spending it? When do we see the receipts? I don''t know squat about Republic, but I do know they''re apparently small enough to be allowed to fail and take hundreds of unsuspecting loyal worker drones down with them. What''s the criteria for life and death in today''s economic climate. Must you drive a Mercedes, Lexus or BMW instead of a pickup truck? Better yet, chauffeured and pampered on corporate jets and not have to take off your shoes? We need to get a grip on the inequality that''s all around us. - Reply to this comment
Posted by smiley0322 at 09:31 PM
Yeah, I fell like that once,
but I was smart enough to get up
by myself.
That made me FEEL better.- Reply to this comment
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
