Dec 08 2008

Obama Supports Republic Workers Who Are Occupying Factory!

(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

You all probably know by now that workers at Republic Window and Door have occupied the factory and are demanding their legal right to severance pay and vacation pay as the plant closes.

CHICAGO – Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.

About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant’s operation.

“We’re going to stay here until we win justice,” said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she’s owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory’s workers are Hispanic.

snip

“We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.

https://www.docudharma.com/show…

I didn’t think he’d do it, but he did.  I figured Obama would sit this one out.  I mean, occupying a factory is illegal, at least formalistically.  There could be a politicla downside.  He didn’t have to say anything.  But I was wrong:

“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference announcing his new Veterans Affairs director. “What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.

“When you have a financial system that is shaky, credit contracts. Businesses large and small start cutting back on their plants and equipment and their workforces. That’s why it’s so important for us to maintain a strong financial system. But it’s also important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren’t just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, but they are designed to get money out the doors and to help people on Main Street. So, number one, I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/p…

He avoided endorsing the sit down strike directly, but he said they were right and that’s good enough for me.

12 comments

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    • TomP on December 8, 2008 at 06:40
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    the right thing.

    • RiaD on December 8, 2008 at 06:45
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    So, number one, I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.”

  3. an Anger Spread Wide

    Workers laid off from a Chicago factory on Saturday at what they called an occupation of the plant. They criticized their former bosses, the company’s creditors and the federal government.

    The scene inside a long, low-slung factory on this city’s North Side this weekend offered a glimpse at how the nation’s loss of more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs in a year of recession is boiling over.

    SOLIDARITY!!

  4. are waking up from a long nightmare and are beginning to get grumpy. I believe this is the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and that we’ll see more expressions of discontentment over time.

  5. After being let go with three days notice, laid off Chicago factory workers refuse to leave and have staged a sit-in protest.

    December 8, 2008

  6. this and posted on your other essay. This is a really good sign. Maybe we will have a pro labor president after all. Jeeze I wish Bush would just disappear.

    • Edger on December 8, 2008 at 17:41
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    London-based GFC Economics is making a frightening prediction: By spring 2009, the United States could be facing more than 1 million layoffs every successive month.

    Expenses related to corporate debt, and muddy credit markets consumed by fear, are driving a fast-approaching “hard landing,” claims a Sunday report in UK’s Guardian.

    “Corporate bond yields have rocketed since the credit crisis began as investors flee risky assets in search of safe havens such as US Treasuries. That effectively means many firms are being forced to pay eye-watering interest rates to borrow funds,” the paper reported.

    “November’s jobs figures were so much worse than analysts had expected that the Dow Jones share index actually rallied by 259 points, more than 3 per cent, as investors bet that Washington would have to launch a major new rescue package for the economy even before President-elect Barack Obama takes over the White House in January.”

  8. Bank of America under fire

    In Charlotte this afternoon:

    December 8th, 2008

    A small group of protesters picketed outside Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte Monday in solidarity with employees of a factory in Chicago.

    This is the Statement from BofA this afternoon:

    “We agree with the statements of public officials that Republic Windows and Doors should do all it can to honor its obligations to its employees and minimize the impact of failure on those employees.

    We are reaching out to the management and ownership of the company to see what they can do to help resolve this issue.

    As a creditor of the company, we continue to honor all of our agreements with the company and have provided the maximum amount of funding we can under the terms of our agreement.

    By any objective measure, Republic Windows and Doors is unable to operate profitably given the challenges of the current economic climate and its industry. Public statements by management of the company have made this clear.

    When a company faces such a dire situation, its lender is not empowered to direct the company’s management how to manage its affairs and what obligations should be paid. Such decisions belong to the management and owners of the company.

    Bank of America has worked with the company and shared our concerns about the company’s situation and its operations for the past several months. It is unfortunate that the company has been unable to reverse its declining circumstances.”

    Now somebody tell me where to find the Statement From Us, the taxpayers, Prior to the BofA Bailout Money, I don’t remember one, especially about how these companies did business, Do You!!!  

    • kj on December 9, 2008 at 02:00
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    at work talking about this.  big, big boss said, “That’s what we’ll do if they come after us!”   LOL

    love it.   keep those $10.00 checks going, folks!  order pizza for the group!  

    LOVE THIS.   this is media at its best.

  10. Obama is still NOT the President but this is encouraging. I’ve had some interesting convos about whether or not there’ll be real change or if Obama has talked his way into the Presidency and will now toe the corporatist line.

    This is a very good start and reinforces my feeling that we should see his appointments as drones to get his agenda accomplished.

    Or maybe there’s not enough evidence and that’s just wishful thinking.

  11. has legs as the media idiots say. Here’s the latest update:

    Ill. Governor suspends all state business with Bank of America

    Stephen C. Webster

    Published: Monday December 8, 2008

    BoA set to lose billions in business as Governor, President-elect show solidarity with workers

    In a stinging note of support for the laid off workers that have taken up residency in Chicago’s Republic Windows & Doors factory, the Governor of Illinois has suspended business with Bank of America until it reissues credit to the shuttered company.  

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/…

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