[R-G] Angry laid-off workers occupy factory in Chicago

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.dailymail.com/News/200812060436

Angry laid-off workers occupy factory in Chicago

By RUPA SHENOY

Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- Workers who got three days' notice that 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.

About 250 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 two-day peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow  
and cleaning the building, Fried said.

"We're doing something we haven't done since the 1930s, so we're  
trying to make it work,'' she said, referring to a tactic most  
famously used in 1936-37 by General Motors factory workers in Flint,  
Mich., to help unionize the U.S. auto industry.

Fried said the company can't pay its 300 employees because its  
creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them.  
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' 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.''

Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial  
bailout package. The company said in a statement Saturday that it  
isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.