Union says sit-in at factory not over yet
A sit-in by workers at a factory in Chicago that's come to symbolize the plight of laid-off labor around the nation continued on Tuesday despite an offer by the plant's creditor to extend limited loans to the factory.
A resolution seemed nearer Tuesday when Bank of America, which yanked the plant's financing last week, announced it sent a letter to Republic Windows and Doors offering "a limited amount of additional loans" to resolve its employee claims.
About 200 of the 240 laid-off workers, who had about three days' notice of the closure, responded by staging a sit-in, vowing to stay put until assurances they would get severance and accrued vacation pay.
Lawmakers in Illinois have singled out Bank of America for criticism, blasting the Charlotte, N.C.-based company for cutting off the plant's credit after the bank itself received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package.
Word of Bank of America's loan offer came as the bank, union representatives and Republic held talks in Chicago on Tuesday, the fifth day of the sit-in.
Leah Fried, an organizer for the United Electrical Workers, which represents the Republic workers, said it was too soon to know if the sit-in would end any time soon. Workers would have to vote to end the action after any final agreement, but she said there was no such deal as of Tuesday night.
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," Ricardo Caceres, a 39-year-old assembly line worker taking part in the sit-in said Tuesday. "I am proud of my brother and sister workers."
Without the severance and vacation pay, Caceres said he and many of his fellow workers risked falling behind on mortgage payments and even losing their homes.
Another worker, 44-year-old Apolinar Cabrera, said he risked even more. His wife is due to deliver their third child around Christmas, but without his Republic job, he said he wouldn't have the health insurance to cover her medical care.
"I'm still feeling angry and sad," Cabrera, who has worked at the plant for 17 years, said Monday. "At the same time, it was time to stand up and fight for my rights."
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."
In its Tuesday statement, 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 only be designed 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 if 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.