Late last year, we took a look at the ripple effect
created by the historic Republic Windows and Doors sit-in, which came in response to the former owner's attempt to
close up shop abruptly and withhold pay and benefits from roughly 250 employees. At the time,
the take away message from the workers' occupation of the
factory was that the company's reckless business practices didn't pay off in
the end.
Over the weekend, the Chicago New Cooperative checked in
on the efforts of the plant's new owners, Serious Materials, to bring production back to the factory. Plenty of challenges remain. So far, only a small fraction of the former Republic Windows workers have been rehired as the company struggles to retrofit its factory and tap into slow-moving stimulus funding for energy efficiency projects. But it appears that the
ripple effect continues, albeit in unexpected ways. From the article:
Ms. [Rocio] Perez said she looked back on the upheaval of the last 15 months
as a mostly positive experience because she learned to stand up for
herself. She was surprised, she said, to discover that her children had
learned the same lesson. When their school faced closing, her daughters
said they wanted to follow her example by speaking at a Chicago Board
of Education meeting in support of their school.
“I really saw the example we had made by taking our factory and
fighting back,” Ms. Perez said. “It was a way for our children who are
the future to defend themselves as well.”
Turns out that the school, Peabody Elementary School, was ultimately
saved. And Perez is holding out hope that her job will be too. “We’re
going to wait," she said, "and we’re going to
hope.”
