Direct action gets the goods in Chicago
At the beginning of this month, 250 workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago were told that the factory would be closing — in three days. Apparently Bank of America cut off the factory’s line of credit, and the owners couldn’t be bothered with the 60 days’ notice of closure required under state and federal law.
The workers responded, not by filing grievances or pursuing legal action, but by occupying the factory where they worked.
“They want the poor person to stay down. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere until we get what’s fair and what’s ours,” Silvia Mazon, 47, a formerly apolitical mother and worker at the factory for 13 years told the New York Times. “They thought they would get rid of us easily, but if we have to be here for Christmas, it doesn’t matter.”
And guess what? They succeeded.
Under the brokered deal, workers will each receive around two months’ worth of salary and healthcare benefits, as well as all accrued vacation pay. Most of the financing will come from Bank of America. The company relented after coming under heavy criticism for its role in blocking the employees’ pay despite receiving $25 billion in the taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout.
Congratulations to the folks at Republic Windows and Doors!
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The story told by these workers will be the the most telling fable in the shadows cast by the historical narrative of the rise of Barack Obama’s U.S. presidential administration.
While millions returned to the same news outlets for the same topics and a trudged to the ballot box lugging the tired idea that life can be significantly different while all the power remains in the same hands, the employees of Republic saw the power at the ends of their fingertips and acted extraordinarily in a crucial moment of decision.
Thank you for writing about this. I believe as many sources of labor history should document the events that occurred in the winter of 2008 at Republic Windows and Doors as possible because of it’s valuable strategy lesson and because the swell of history above those events is so centered on one person to whom have been firmly and deliberately attached all remaining notions of freedom and justice.
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