# Laid Off Workers Refuse To Leave Chicago Factory! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068 "2008-12-07T00:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/1 "2008-12-07T00:16:53Z")
This is an amazing story, workers mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. > [@](#): > > [Laid Off Workers Refuse To Leave Chicago Factory](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/06/laid-off-workers-refuse-t_n_148972.html) > > CHICAGO — Workers who got three days’ notice their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won’t go home without assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay they say they are owed. > > About 200 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind. > > Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days’ notice required by law before shutting down. > > During the peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said. > > “We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said. > > … [Video link with more information](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqlrQ0H-YBM) [Link with video](http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x247799) [Another link with video](http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/republic-windows-job-cuts-protest.html) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/2 "2008-12-07T02:11:01Z")
More [videos at Daily Kos](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/6/14287/1975/94/670127), including more information. > [@](#): > > UPDATE 1: Members of Local 1110 need your support. Make checks payable to the UE Local 1110 Solidarity Fund, and mail to: 37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607. Messages of support can be sent to organizer Leah Fried ([leahfried@gmail.com](mailto:leahfried@gmail.com)). For more information, call UE at 312-829-8300. > > At the Jobs with Justice Web site, you can send a message of protest to Bank of America. > > [http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/101949.html](http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/101949.html) > > Today began the first factory occupation the USA has seen in recent memory. > > Donations of food and money are requested, as are solidarity actions targeting the Bank of America. The factory is in the Goose Island neighborhood, at 1333 N Hickory (right near Division and Halsted). ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/3 "2008-12-07T03:10:20Z")
From the first linked article: > [@](#): > > Fried said the company can’t pay its 300 employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won’t let them. Alright, that confused me. Won’t let them how? Then I read this from your second post: > [@](#): > > The union says company officials told employees they were closing shop because Bank of America would no longer extend Republic its line of credit. Bank of America wouldn’t confirm that due to confidentiality issues. Workers say the fact that Bank of America received $25 billion in the federal bailout makes this even more unacceptable. You can’t _make_ a bank loan you money. How is this BOA’s fault? Am I missing something? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/4 "2008-12-07T03:28:43Z")
Unbelieveable, but I am not surprised. The banking industry gets a multi-billion dollar bailout courtesy of the US taxpayers, then Bank of America clams up and won’t allow payments to these people, even though it’s probably only a miniscule amount, a drop in the bucket to Bank of America. What bullshit. NinetyWt, as I understand it - and of course I could be totally wrong - but when a company goes into bankruptcy, its creditors make claims on their assets, which in this case would be BOA, and therefore BOA has control over the company’s assets (money). Can anyone tell me whether this is the case or not? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/5 "2008-12-07T03:44:50Z")
One of the reasons the workers are occupying the factory is to stop assets (machinery, inventory) from being taken out of the factory. I believe it’s explained in the first video. The owners have been removing assets for weeks prior to closing. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/6 "2008-12-07T04:13:31Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > NinetyWt, as I understand it - and of course I could be totally wrong - but when a company goes into bankruptcy, its creditors make claims on their assets, which in this case would be BOA, and therefore BOA has control over the company’s assets (money). Can anyone tell me whether this is the case or not? I can’t find anything that says the company is bankrupt, or has declared bankruptcy. The New York Times article says this: > [@](#): > > Workers blamed Bank of America, which they said had served as an important lender to Republic Windows, for cutting off credit to the company and preventing workers from being paid. Some workers carried signs and stickers criticizing the bank: “You got bailed out, we got sold out.” > > A spokeswoman for Bank of America, Julie Westermann, said in a written statement that “because of our client confidentiality obligations, we cannot comment on any individual clients’ situations.” But Ms. Westermann noted, “Neither Bank of America nor any other third party lender to the company has the right to control whether the company complies with applicable laws or honors its commitments to its employees.” All it says is “lending”. I’m still confused. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/7 "2008-12-08T20:48:20Z")
Everyone’s weighing in…Obama, Jesse Jackson, and now Blagojevich! This is getting better and better. Yay workers! > [@](#): > > [Illinois Governor Halts Business With Bank of America](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=akrsdg5ID7aM&refer=home) > > By David Mildenberg > > Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said the state will suspend business with Bank of America Corp. until the lender restores credit to the shuttered Republic Windows & Doors company in Chicago where workers are staging a sit-in. > > Blagojevich, a Democrat, spoke at a news conference today after meeting with employees who remained at the factory since Dec. 5, when it closed following the bank’s cancellation of its credit line. Illinois does “hundreds of millions of dollars” in business with the bank, he said. The Illinois Department of Labor will sue the manufacturer if Republic doesn’t respond to employee requests for vacation and severance pay, the governor said in a press release. > > “We’re hoping negotiations this afternoon with the bank and company are successful and they can make things happen,” Kelly Quinn, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich, said. “The governor believes we should be putting people to work, not sending them to the unemployment line. > > Commercial banks have restricted lending as ripples from the financial crisis that began on Wall Street widen into the broader economy. More than half a million U.S. jobs were lost in November and economists have drawn a direct link between the deepening recession and the seizure in credit markets which has so far resulted in $981 billion in writedowns and losses globally. > > The protest by members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union has received support from President-elect Barack Obama, who said at a news conference in Chicago yesterday that the 250 workers are justified in demanding their benefits and pay. > > Bank Got Government Funds > > “I think they’re absolutely right,” said Obama, who gave up his U.S. Senate seat from Illinois last month. “I think that these workers, if they have earned these benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments.” > > Because Bank of America received funds from the government’s $700 billion rescue package, the protest has attracted attention from the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Representatives Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois as an example of the Troubled Asset Relief Program helping Wall Street and not Main Street. > > …[much more at link] ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/8 "2008-12-08T22:55:14Z")
I support the workers in their quest to get the pay they’re owed, and any pay they will be due if they had gotten the 60-day notice they were supposed to get. And in a better world, I would support their taking over the factory permanently and running it as a cooperative. But trying to get BoA to extend credit to the company just to keep it open when it apparently is dying…? Should all the banks give credit to all the companies that are going under just so they can pretend they’re viable? And to have taxpayers pay for it? It would be far better to put our tax money into public works, where we know something useful is being done for the common good. That way, everybody wins. There would be jobs, and their work would benefit society. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/9 "2008-12-09T01:12:54Z")
I gotta say, I used to work there a couple of years ago, and well…I’m not surprised. It was not a particularly well-run company, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/10 "2008-12-09T01:26:03Z")
> [@Gundy](#): > > I gotta say, I used to work there a couple of years ago, and well…I’m not surprised. It was not a particularly well-run company, in my opinion. Holy crap! Haven’t seen you around these parts in awhile. Anyhow, I only temped there for two months, but my impression agrees with the above, for the most part. Still, it’s too bad, as I really did like all the people I worked with there. Hope they do okay. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/11 "2008-12-09T01:30:14Z")
Howdy! I haven’t posted for something like three years but I was pointed to this thread and couldn’t resist. Really, the only people that should suffer for this are the upper echelons of management. I can’t really side against BoA in this debacle because everything that I was privy to reeked of poor decision making, and I was just a worker bee. My impression is that they ran a solid company into the ground. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/12 "2008-12-09T02:30:36Z")
I too am unclear why BoA has any responsibility in this matter. They are a bank, not a charity. I don’t see why they should be force to essentially give away money because they loaned some to Republic Windows in the past. The real villains in this story are Republic’s owners and upper management. However, since they have no money left, no one seems to really care. The protesters in this case are simply going after the money, even if they have no claim against BoA. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/13 "2008-12-09T06:39:23Z")
BoA had a “line of credit” established with this company, an ongoing, rolling series of loans that enable it to weather downturns in the economy. The Wikipedia entry sucks, but Investopedia describes it thus: > [@](#): > > An arrangement between a financial institution, usually a bank, and a customer that establishes a maximum loan balance that the bank will permit the borrower to maintain. The borrower can draw down on the line of credit at any time, as long as he or she does not exceed the maximum set in the agreement. > > The advantage of a line of credit over a regular loan is that interest is not usually charged on the part of the line of credit that is unused, and the borrower can draw on the line of credit at any time that he or she needs to. Depending on the agreement with the financial institution, the line of credit may be classified as a demand loan, which means that any outstanding balance will have to be paid immediately at the financial institution’s request. BoA shut off the line of credit, in spite of the money supplied to BoA specifically to enable them to continue loaning money to small businesses. If this isn’t a perfect example of why the money was given to BoA and other financial institutions, then I’d like the money back, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/14 "2008-12-09T07:54:34Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > But trying to get BoA to extend credit to the company just to keep it open when it apparently is dying…? Should all the banks give credit to all the companies that are going under just so they can pretend they’re viable? And to have taxpayers pay for it? In terms of the negative publicity that they are receiving, probably just releasing enough to payout the severance and vacation pay would be enough. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/15 "2008-12-09T08:06:33Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > In terms of the negative publicity that they are receiving, probably just releasing enough to payout the severance and vacation pay would be enough. Jump on my own post , after watching the congressmans speech I feel that BOA at the moment is not the primary villain , but the owners of the establishment. Declan ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/16 "2008-12-09T09:35:22Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > From the first linked article: > Alright, that confused me. Won’t let them how? > > Then I read this from your second post: > > You can’t _make_ a bank loan you money. How is this BOA’s fault? Am I missing something? 😕 Bank have severely (and often very suddenly) restricted credit lines to many companies due their (the banks) difficulties. This resulted in great hardships for numerous small and medium sized (often otherwise perfectly viable) companies. Even though banks are indeed under no obligation to extend credit, doing so the way it has often been done is widely criticized. Functionally, it would be the equivalent of banks suddenly suspending an individual’s credit cards and asking him to reimburse immediately the debts incurred. It’s not (usually, I don’t know in this particular case) a situation where the company can’t pay the wages and go to the bank to borrow money. It’s a situation where a company has been relying for years on its line of credit for its day to day operations, and it’s suspended, so the company can’t pay the wages/bills/whatever while waiting for its own clients to pay, resulting in major a disruption or even just bankruptcy (for instance, the company has an order of 100 000 trinkets, but it can’t make them because it can’t pay the workers or buy the plastic until the previous order of 60 000 trinkets will be paid in full, say, 30 days later). Companies generally don’t keep idle money lying around for this kind of situation. Many people argue that given the fact that banks got large handouts from the taxpayers, they should be more accommodating, especially when it comes to not suspending existing credit lines, and especially in the case of companies that don’t appear to be in a difficult situation. Basically, people are asking : what are you doing with the bailout money/guarantees/whatever if you’re refusing to loan it? The restriction of credit is probably the biggest issue in the current crisis and has very direct and immediate adverse results like small companies closing shop and workers being laid off even though the company is perfectly viable (once again I don’t know if it’s true in this particular case). By the way, even though I knew the USA is a different world work-wise, I’m surprised that workers occupying a factory is considered _that_ unusual. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/17 "2008-12-09T15:18:11Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > It’s not (usually, I don’t know in this particular case) a situation where the company can’t pay the wages and go to the bank to borrow money. It’s a situation where a company has been relying for years on its line of credit for its day to day operations, and it’s suspended, so the company can’t pay the wages/bills/whatever while waiting for its own clients to pay, resulting in major a disruption or even just bankruptcy (for instance, the company has an order of 100 000 trinkets, but it can’t make them because it can’t pay the workers or buy the plastic until the previous order of 60 000 trinkets will be paid in full, say, 30 days later). Companies generally don’t keep idle money lying around for this kind of situation. > > Many people argue that given the fact that banks got large handouts from the taxpayers, they should be more accommodating, especially when it comes to not suspending existing credit lines, and especially in the case of companies that don’t appear to be in a difficult situation. Basically, people are asking : what are you doing with the bailout money/guarantees/whatever if you’re refusing to loan it? > > The restriction of credit is probably the biggest issue in the current crisis and has very direct and immediate adverse results like small companies closing shop and workers being laid off even though the company is perfectly viable (once again I don’t know if it’s true in this particular case). Merci, that makes a bit more sense. I’m still wondering this in the Republic Windows case: if the bank lends the money for the severance/payout packages, and the company folds, how will BOA ever get the loan paid back? Assets? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/18 "2008-12-09T21:21:44Z")
[BoA’s backed down.](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/9/153943/969/55/671167) > [@](#): > > Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) – Bank of America Corp. will provide a “limited amount of additional loans” to shuttered Republic Windows & Doors LLC in Chicago to pay employees occupying a building after the bank ended the company’s line of credit. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/19 "2008-12-09T21:39:33Z")
This story has been driving me nuts every time it comes on the news. I’m all for power to the people and that jazz, but banks do not arbitrarily cut off lines of credit willy nilly for no reason at all. Most, if not all lending institutions have taken a serious look at their credit guidelines as of late and people and businesses who are over-extended are beginning to lose access to their lines because they don’t have the money to make good any longer. It makes me barking mad the way I think I see it portrayed on the news that some guy at BofA just ran his finger down a list of accounts and decided to screw Republic out of the blue. It’s not so, and after all the meetings that they’ve been having I’d imagine that if there was any way to find a loophole that would allow further credit extension to the company they would have done it. Now they’re just paying ransom money to rid themselves of the deal, which is rotten. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068/20 "2008-12-10T02:23:16Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > This story has been driving me nuts every time it comes on the news. I’m all for power to the people and that jazz, but banks do not arbitrarily cut off lines of credit willy nilly for no reason at all. Everything I’ve read or heard recently makes me believes that it’s exactly what is currently happening. Banks are cutting off existing credit lines and denying new credit to small companies right and left, seemingly without much regard to the actual situation of said companies, or to their potential, apparently just in case or as a matter of general policy. The French government recently put in place a commission where business owners can complain about such decisions. They try to act as conciliators, but after reviewing the cases presented, the authorities have threatened to suspend their guarantees if banks were to keep on unreasonably restricting or suspending credit to small businesses. Note that though I’m referring to France here, I know it’s the same in other European countries as well, and an article I read recently hinted at it regarding Japan too, so I think it’s a safe bet to assume there’s probably a similar issue in the USA. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laid-off-workers-refuse-to-leave-chicago-factory/476068.md?page=2)