JP Morgan Offers Aid For Chicago Workers

Another creditor is offering money to the owner of the Chicago factory where laid-off workers are staging a sit-in in a demand for pay.

The office of Congressman Luis Gutierrez says JP Morgan Chase has pledged $400,000 to use strictly for the workers laid off last week by Republic Windows and Doors.

The window company's main creditor is Bank of America, and that bank has also offered a limited line of credit so the workers can be paid.

The company abruptly laid off 240 employees last week and about 200 of them responded to the plant's closing by occupying it and vowing to stay put until assurances they would get severance and accrued vacation pay.

They swear they'll stay until they get assurances that they'll receive severance and accrued vacation pay.

Lawmakers have criticized Bank of America for cutting off money to the plant after it exhausted its credit line, even though the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank itself received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package.

Workers have remained defiant, if surprised that their protest has drawn intense nationwide interest, including expressions of support from President-elect Barack Obama.

"I never thought this would get so big," said Ricardo Caceres, a 39-year-old assembly line worker taking part in the sit-in. "I am proud of my brother and sister workers."

In its statement Tuesday, Bank of America sided at least in part with the disgruntled workers, expressing concern for what it alleged was "Republic's failure to pay their employees the employee claims to which they are legally entitled."

The loan would be designed only to enable Republic to pay laid-off workers, said bank spokeswoman Julie Westermann. There was no question of offering a loan large enough to reopen the factory, she said.

Asked whether the bank sympathized with the laid-off workers, Westermann said, "Of course we do." She added that bank officials were ready to begin the loan-approval process if talks concluded with an agreement.

Republic officials did not return messages on Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Without the severance and vacation pay, Caceres said, he and many of his fellow workers risk falling behind on mortgage payments and even losing their homes.

Fried said most of the workers made no more than around $30,000 a year at the plant, which she said was barely enough to feed and house their families.

"They've had rough times, and that fuels a desire to say, 'Enough! We can't be kicked around anymore,"' she said. "There really is a sense of desperation. They have nothing to lose."