Workers seek payment from shuttered Duraco

Several workers protested Monday at the shuttered Duraco Products in Streamwood, saying they still haven't been paid thousands of dollars for their work and insisting that the owners pay them.

The Chicago Workers' Collaborative, a community organization with operations in Rolling Meadows that represents the nonunion Duraco workers, said the factory employees are owed roughly $150,000.

"They lost their homes and their cars. These are people who were working but were not paid for their work," said Tim Bell, a lead organizer with Chicago Workers Collaborative.

Bell said workers were not paid since around 2008, which is the same year when the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Some Duraco workers had filed claims with the Illinois Department of Labor, but the cases were dismissed because debtors, such as employees, were told to file claims at U.S. Bankruptcy Court since the company was undergoing reorganization, Bell said.

At that time of the bankruptcy filing, Duraco said its assets were under $50,000 and its liabilities were between $1 million and $10 million.

Last week, the court ordered the company to go into Chapter 7 liquidation, which closed it down.

Katherine Kolon, an attorney with Chicago-based Working Hands Legal Clinic, said some employees have sought advice from Working Hands to seek ways to retrieve their money, such as filing lawsuits against the owners.

Calls to lawyers representing Duraco were not immediately returned. Attempts to reach owners Michael and Kevin Lynch were not successful.