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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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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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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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.
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"thousands of employees who have lost their jobs as the economy continues to sour. "
I love reading a story and discovering that the author has the magical ability to change the way words are used in the English language. Go back to elementary school please!
Capitalism isn''t failing. America is failing to institute capitalism correctly.
1.) Credit is not a part of capitalism. Credit has a tendency to greatly affect the way the financial market is run, but the credit system itself runs largely on imaginary money.
2.) Unions are not a part of capitalism. Unions are a great idea, IMO, but are greatly mismanaged in the US. The more power a union has in a capitalist system, the weaker the capitalist system becomes.
3.)Gov''t intervention is not a part of capitalism. The gov''t itself caused the housing crisis by forcing banks to loan to people who could not pay, and most likely would not pay the money back. The more power a gov''t usurps in a capitalist system, the weaker the capitalist system becomes.
Posted by CBSNews53
While I might not agree that government ''caused'' the problem, they certainly made it worse! I understand the motivation, to make housing more affordable to people with lower incomes, but the way to do that is not to force lenders like Sallie Mae to make loans to people who can''t afford them. This is not a Democrat vs Republican issue, since both parties are guilty. (early in his 1st term G.W. Bush gave a speech urging Sallie Mae to offer loans without a down payment, and set a goal of millions of new low-income home owners).
BRING OUR JOBS BACK!!!!
1800 a month? HAAAAAAA maybe thats the problem right there people. Some illegal gettin 100k a month to put on door handles.
Continue on this path and you will see just how unforgiven the swing voter can be. We showed you mercy in 2006, we showed you less mercy in 2008, if you continue on your course and do not moderate, well you know the answer to that.
Moderate now while you still can.
Posted by antoniof123
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I agree with you on this. The American people are more middle of the road. Both sides need to moderate. If they get too liberal the voters will come down on them just like they have the real conservaties.
Posted by keystonebull at 10:07 AM : Dec 08, 2008"
I agree with you both. Part of money given to Bank of Ameirca''s might have gone to executive year end bonus. This no regulation government has gone too far. This should be starting point for enforcing the lawful pay to people who earned it.
Now it''s happening to us.
Welcome to the Anglo-Dutch style New World Order IMF/World Bank tyrrany.
Us white folks get what we deserve after doing this to colored folks around the world for years.
Posted by lady_organs at 10:18 AM : Dec 08, 2008
I agree with this, except that I would venture to say that they weren''t conservative AT ALL! Just claiming that you believe in God doesn''t make you a conservative.
Posted by whitemale08 at 10:24 AM : Dec 08, 2008
It''s always interesting to the get the point of view from the resident racist.
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Posted by CBSNews53 at 10:26 AM : Dec 08, 2008--
Me a racist?
You must not read my posts.
Posted by lady_organs at 10:18 AM : Dec 08, 2008
I agree with this, except that I would venture to say that they weren''''t conservative AT ALL! Just claiming that you believe in God doesn''''t make you a conservative.
Posted by CBSNews53
True, it helps if you''re a bit of a war monger and a little corrupt as well.
Now it''''s happening to us.
Welcome to the Anglo-Dutch style New World Order IMF/World Bank tyrrany.
Us white folks get what we deserve after doing this to colored folks around the world for years.
Ha how much more nig can you type brotha?
And Bank of America is not responsible for this,, all the did was decided to stop financing a bad company. Plain and simple.
I told you that ''globalization'' is nothing but looting countries around the world and now we''ve been looted by hedge funds and ''buy-out-firms'' for the sake of Wall Street and City of London.
Posted by RowdynTex
You mean like the wall street investment houses?
1. Our country is/was a nation of laws. Funny how those who scream the loudest are the first to ignore them.
2. Bank of America has a right to withdraw financing. It''s their money. There were no specific rules agreed to on continuing this companies financing. You don''t even know the reasons behind it.
3. Employee''s do not have a right to place a mechanics lien on the assets. Division of assets is decided by a bankruptcy court, Opps the law again.
These people are trespassing and violating the law. They should be arrested like any other vigilanti or others will do the same across the county.
Lawlessness breeds more of the same.
Is this the "change" you promised us Obama?
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Posted by mmd935 at 10:31 AM
He isn''t president yet, idiot! Talk to your gawd and messiah Bush. Oh gee, he just let some gas, don''t you want to bow down and worship? Wait, tune in Limbaugh and he will tell you what else to think.
Bully for these protesters!
DON''''T RE-ELECT ANYBODY.
Posted by fahr451 at 10:01 AM : Dec 08, 2008
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Totally agree fahr451. That''s what Lou Dobbs has been saying for years. The decisions that our political leaders make have never been about the country or its people.....instead they are always about corporations, commercial interests, other countries, and their own politicians'' self interests.
Dobbs went off the deep end against Obama, who I felt was the lesser of the two evils. Ron Paul was my first choice.
And Bank of America is not responsible for this,, all the did was decided to stop financing a bad company. Plain and simple.
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Posted by waterandsand at 10:30 AM : Dec 08, 2008--
No, that''s not what happened.
Bank of America kept providing credit to this company until they got the bailout then once they did they used the excuse of the ''credit crisis'' to stop.
They do it all the time to 3rd world countries. They keep companies open promising to pay workers until the population demands the IMF loan.
Once they get the loan, the banks just bailout themselves with the money and leave the government to liquidate the severances in newly devalued money that was a condition of getting the IMF loan.
That''s how they do it dude.
Do your research about the IMF before posting a reply to my posts.
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How does a company not keep its required obligations on tap? This company was "living on credit" and you blame someone for having ONLY one month of savings, or paying too much? How about the REQUIRED 2 months of pay that the company needed to keep on hand?
The way this company is treating people is what caused all the job loss and wage decreases that led to the housing collapse. Get it right - it all started at the top. Stop blaming the victims.
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
The fact is the Union, once again has priced itself out of jobs. It''''s that simple.
I don''''t blame the bank for denying more credit...they need to be able to guarantee loans to businesses who didn''''t mismanage and overbloat their labor expenses with less production!
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Posted by RowdynTex
The bank can deny credit any time it wants. (However it gets complicated because we''re on the crazy train now and part of the money they''re supposed to be lending actually already is ours, so we''re going to be paying interest to borrow something that was ours originally, so hmmm, I don''t know maybe we should just skip all the middlemen and keep it? But then, we have to keep the economy going regardles the cost, right? ) Anyway, The problem is, creditors should never be allowed to collect on debt until all employee obligations are satisfied. The bank should not come before any employee, union or non-union.
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Posted by fahr451 at 10:33 AM : Dec 08, 2008--
No, I''m the poster child who is smart enough to know that when our own race runs out of people of color to loot then we will loot ourselves because evil doesn''t care.
You lack a basic understanding of economics if you think this represents a failure of capitalism. You are mistaking cause and effect.
Things like gasoline and what-not were high not because of speculators, but because the prices were inflated - that''s why it''s called a "bubble". It inflates the value of goods and services far beyond that which is real. So a house that should be worth $100K will sell for $400K and a gallon of gas that should sell for $1 is selling for $4.
This is the problem with bubbles, especially bubbles in real estate: They effect the entire market and drive prices of everything up. But it is all artificial.
The bubble has burst and now everything that was overpriced due to fake "value" will shed that and return to more realistic numbers. In fact, I wouldn''t be surprised to see gasoline at 99 cents a gallon by March 1 of 2009.
The rest of your post is a jumble of mostly incoherent contradictions that I won''t even attempt to address.
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
BOA has put a lien on money owed by the Window Company, and there not keepin there line of credit open because the company is losing money and cant pay its loan, What are you talkin about?????
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
Really 100k is a 100,000. Fk me i wasnt aware of that. The point is if you have a $1800 note for housing then you have enough money to have been saving,, especially at 40yrs of age. Guess what,, shes speakin spanish because she cannot speak english.
I understand that''''s a little complicated for you...and I don''''t expect you to get it. It''''s OK!
Posted by RowdynTex a
I understood perfectly and as usual you are pushing a double standard.
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
**********
You''re talking about yourself dear. Your the freaking genius. If we waited on you to fix the economy...well these workers probably would have been shot down where they protest.
THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS DEAD!!!!
BANK OF AMERICA AND ALL OF THESE MAJOR BANKS ARE LOOTING US!!!!
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
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Posted by whitemale08 at 10:42 AM
Exactly right. Instead of bailing them out, we should be jailing them and teaching them a lesson that will show all predatory lenders that they will be held responsible.
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Posted by waterandsand
While I have zero sympathy for Bank of America, you make a valid point.
To go with it, you have a Hispanic congressman weighing in on all this. That is almost always a red flag saying illegal alien ''''rights''''.
***First of all, 100K=100,000. Second, and more importantly, why does anyone who speaks Spanish have to be illegal? I know a lot of immigrants who still use their native language to communicate, and just because a lot of American citizens don''t know what it is to speak two languages, they assume that those who do must be here illegally. That argument doesn''t hold water, and you know it. Also, the lady probably only has one month of savings left because the bank probably screwed her family just like it did to countless others. America is a melting pot--it always has been--and I hope to God it will continue to be so in spite of short-sighted and bigoted individuals such as yourselves.
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Posted by jamesm12341 at 10:43 AM
Oh, look! It''s the dribble idiot.
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