Chicago workers' sit-in becomes rallying point
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday ordered state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America to pressure the company to help laid-off workers who are staging a sit-in at a shuttered plant.
The Republic Windows and Doors plant abruptly closed last week after the North Carolina-based bank canceled the company's financing. Some 200 workers have said they won't leave the plant until they get assurances they will receive their severance and vacation pay.
"We hope that this kind of leverage and pressure will encourage Bank of America to do the right thing for this business," Blagojevich said. "Take some of that federal tax money that they've received and invest it by providing the necessary credit to this company so these workers can keep their jobs."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said he would talk to fellow senators about reminding banks that tax payer 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," Durbin said Monday while visiting the plant site.
A Bank of America spokesman said she could not comment immediately, but the company was preparing a response.
Meanwhile, representatives of the plant were to meet later Monday with union officials and the bank. The protest has drawn support from President-elect Barack Obama and come to symbolize the plight of laid-off labor everywhere.
Laid-off workers have no plans to give up the protest over severance and vacation pay, and have been occupying the plant around-the-clock in eight-hour shifts, a union leader said. About 60 were inside early Monday.
"We're going strong," said Leah Fried, an organizer for the United Electrical Workers union. "We're not going anywhere until there's resolution."
Blagojevich said the state will ask for a federal court injunction Tuesday to make sure federal law is followed and workers get benefits like severance and vacation pay.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez said Monday's meeting would address the workers' concerns.
Company officials — who have made no move to have the workers forcibly removed — have not commented since the sit-in began Friday, and have not responded to calls and e-mails. Gutierrez said company officials had signed a waiver permitting the opening of its financial records at the meeting.
Republic Windows and Doors told the workers on Dec. 2 that they would be out of work by the end of the week.
Fried said the company told the union that Bank of America had canceled its financing. The bank had said in a statement that it wasn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.
The announcement of the meeting Monday comes after a wave of publicity about the sit-in and support from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Obama, who said Sunday the company should honor its commitments to the workers.
"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 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 Cicero resident said she has enough money saved to survive for one month.
"We're making history," she said.
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