At a rally held outside Bank of America’s (BOA) Chicago headquarters this afternoon, hundreds of city residents gathered to support the fired Republic Windows workers and protest the bank’s lack of urgency in resolving their ongoing labor dispute. The bank -- which recently canceled its line of credit to Republic -- has delayed using some of its cut of the federal bailout to cover the fired employees' lost wages.  As a result, it's become a national symbol of both corporate greed and a botched effort in Washington to revitalize the economy.

Before heading into BOA’s corporate office earlier this afternoon to resume the third day of negotiations, United Electrical (UE) Workers director Bob Kingsley told the gathered crowd, “Change has got to begin somewhere. And it’s beginning right here in Chicago."

The line-up of labor leaders, including officials from the Service Employees International Union (whose Illinois state council sponsors this website), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and United Auto Workers (UAW), all agreed that the government’s decision to direct $700 billion worth of taxpayer money to huge financial firms under the guise of economic recovery is the last straw.

The unprecedented growth in income inequality over the past decade has long frustrated workers fighting tooth and nail to hang on to basic benefits like health care and annual wage hikes, UAW Illinois legislative director Mark Haasis said.

“People are fed up,” Elce Redmond, an organizer with the South Austin Coalition, told us. “They’re losing their jobs and their homes … Bank of America got billions from this bailout and the people aren’t getting anything.”

By all indications, the dispute seems to be moving towards a resolution. If that's ultimately the case, the Republic employees will have demonstrated how, when organized, workers can collect what is lawfully theirs no matter how powerful an interest they’re up against. And their message resonated with people across the nation.

For Flavia Jimenez, policy director with the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), that this situation arose is evidence of the “anti-worker, anti-union” climate that people have been up against in recent years.

“This [demonstration] is an opportunity for us to show another side of the coin; how the economy has impacted workers,” Jimenez said.

We'll have some video from the rally tomorrow morning.

UPDATE: This post originally reported on a press release from Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office which stated that the Republic Windows dispute had been resolved.  Madigan's staff has now informed us that the release was sent in error and that the negotiations are ongoing.