Click on the title to link to an article in December 2009 "Socialist Appeal" concerning last year's factory take-over at the Republic Door and Window factory in Chicago.
Commentary
This is a little news item that I have just picked up from the AP. I note here that last week I mentioned as a "fantasy" that the Detroit auto workers needed to "seize" the factories in order to get something for all the wealth they had produced. One should also note that this was a union-led action. More, hopefully much more, later. Markin
Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago
By Rupa Shenoy
Associated Press Writer / December 6, 2008
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.
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.
Workers also were angered when company officials didn't show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, she said.
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.
Union officials said another meeting with the company is scheduled for Monday.
Representatives of Republic Windows did not immediately respond Saturday to calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling the area.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that the company's monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors."
© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More articles in Nation
December 17, 2008
ReplyDeleteApparently the Republic Window factory occupiers have reached a settlement with the company and will get their just due (or most of it). The really important point that we can learn as a result of this action is that if workers just take what is doled out to them without a fight during these hard times then they are doomed.
Nobody will argue that this individual small seizure, which however grabbed attention all the way up to commentary on the part of in-coming President Obama, was anything but a necessary defensive move on the part of the Republic workers. However, of such little breaks in the routine response to bad situations great revolutions are made. Something, for example, as simply as the struggle for bread in Russia in 1917 or, as here, a 'lock-out'.
The social tinder for such situations is out there in America today. It is ready; no it is more than ready, to explode. We must pay attention to such developments. In the meantime-Hats off to the Republic Window workers (and their families who joined in the occupation)!