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.
Comments
Tony (not verified) on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 20:55
I would not call this a victory (even if the bank had released money). We on the Left need to do much better than we have done. First of all, no one is talking about the company! The company made millions of dollars on the backs of these workers and then vanished in the night. And where have they recently showed up? Iowa! It appears that the company has purchased another window and doors outfit in Iowa and has merged operations -- and discarded its Chicago workers like trash. Meanwhile, the Left can congratulate itself for demonizing the bank and making sure that the company has enough money to do all of this. Great day for Lefties. Not. http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2008/12/made-in-iowa-did-company-i...
The US purchased a stake in Bank of America because it wanted the largest bank in the country to do more lending, but it never required that the bank lend to anyone or anything. The fact that this company has relocated to Iowa (while liberals poke fun at the bank) shows that it was in financial trouble.
PS: The owners of Republic Windows bought a 2.6 million dollor condo in Chicago last year. I wonder if the workers know about this.....
btlowery (not verified) on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 23:48
I understand the purpose of the wall street bailout was to loosen credit. But do we really want to loosen credit for failing companies? What good is it to extend funds to an already bankrupt firm? Isn't that what got us into this mess, that is, lending money to people who couldn't possibly pay it back?
Alternative Analysis through looking at the Dicta.
markg8 on Thu, 12/11/2008 - 09:07
The bankruptcy looks like an accounting scam to get out of existing labor and supplier contracts. Yeah the home building business is shrinking so you'd expect Republic's biz to be down right now but under Obama part of the stimulus will be add'l. tax breaks etc. for energy efficient upgrades like the energy star windows and doors these guys build.
The owners bought a window plant in IA, started a new corporation and bankrupted the old one. It doesn't sound like they had any problem getting the financing for that.
I'm not sure what we can do about this but as we've already seen Republicans are trying to use the Big Three bailout as an excuse to destroy the UAW and I expect they'll try to do the same to every private sector union with the complicity of owners and banks over the next few years.
That's exactly the opposite direction this country needs to be going. We need federal legislation to encourage collective bargaining for better income equality. The Employee Free Choice Act isn't enough. But more than that these kind of practices need to be exposed and the owners not only shamed but hit where it hurts: in their wallets.
That stimulus legislation ought to stipulate that participating companies treat their employees fairly or they and their products do not qualify.
Look for this to be a very tough fight in every business sector over the next few years. Just heard on the radio the movie studios are trying to screw their writers union and using the economy as their excuse. My brother is a driver for one of the few big union trucking firms left. Yellow Freight which leveraged itself to the hilt to buy out Roadway and USF is the biggest trucking co.in the US. It looks like the Teamsters are negotiating a giveback prompted by Yellow's need to buy up $100 million of their own stock to prop up the share price. As Yellow goes so goes the trucking industry these days and his fellow teamsters are not happy. I imagine the non-union drivers are even less thrilled because as low men on the totem poll they're really gonna get the shaft.
The bank and Wall St. rules of course are forcing Yellow's hand. But those rules have to change. A economic system that protects and promotes only investment wealth and not wages is destined to fail.
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