Angry laid-off workers occupy factory in Chicago

Day 4: Workers Remain In Shuttered Plant
Protest Becomes Symbol For Economic Mess; Meeting Set For Today To Discuss Standoff
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/workers.sitin.economy.2.882187.html

The 200 workers demanding severance and vacation pay have become a national symbol for thousands of employees laid off nationwide. They occupied the plant of their former employer, Republic Windows and Doors, after the company abruptly fired them last week.

"We never expected this," said Melvin Maclin, a factory employee and vice president of the local union that represents the workers. "We expected to go to jail."

Then give them their 3 squares a day.

Obama: Workers staging sit-in 'absolutely right'
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081208/D94UFKP81.html

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

So is this going to be the next 'trendy' thing to do when your place of employment shuts down?

This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

At least the Reverend Jackson is getting involved. Look out now.

"These workers must be congratulated for having the courage in the great tradition of Dr. King ... and in the tradition of Cesar Chavez, in the tradition of Rosa Parks," Jackson said. "Your sitting down, in many ways, allows America to stand up. Workers all around the nation who are now facing massive layoffs. It's your job, it's your plant. Stay there and fight for it until justice comes and justice will come."

Did he seriously just compare their courage with that of Rosa Parks?

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Finding a job is rare, maybe their best option is this or revolt and hang some of the corporate leaders.

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Dudes... it's in the freakin' contract. Have any of you ever been UNION? Have you ever signed a contract?

If so, then you should understand. They see this as an investment of their time into something they were CONTRACTUALLY ENTITLED to receive. I just feel bad that they have Jackson's shitty name plastered all over their cause!

Where are they gonna go? Where would you go if you lost your job today? IMHO, let your rock throwing and criticism wait until after the 60 day's notice expires or whenever the job market can SUPPORT ABSORBING THESE EMPLOYEES.... then tear them apart.

meta4 wrote:

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Dudes... it's in the freakin' contract. Have any of you ever been UNION? Have you ever signed a contract?

If so, then you should understand. They see this as an investment of their time into something they were CONTRACTUALLY ENTITLED to receive. I just feel bad that they have Jackson's shitty name plastered all over their cause!

Where are they gonna go? Where would you go if you lost your job today? IMHO, let your rock throwing and criticism wait until after the 60 day's notice expires or whenever the job market can SUPPORT ABSORBING THESE EMPLOYEES.... then tear them apart.

I guess you never worked for Tokheim Corp here in the Fort. I did for 11 yrs (UAW) before I quit in 2000. Shortly after that they filed 1st bankruptcy, I think about 18 mos. later the 2nd filing, then bingo, the doors closed forever. I could tell you stories of many former employees (and could give ya lots of names if you'd like to contact them) who NEVER got what was in the contract.

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Entitlement to wages they've already earned,,, how dare they. So we have a company that took 25 million in bailout money to, you know LOAN to companies for things like wages, but decides instead to not use taxpayer money to help the economy as it was intended, and then company B decides to up and close it's doors in violation of the law, not to mention any common decency, and your issue is that the workers are demonstrating to get what is legally theirs?

meta4 wrote:Dudes... it's in the freakin' contract. Have any of you ever been UNION? Have you ever signed a contract?

If so, then you should understand. They see this as an investment of their time into something they were CONTRACTUALLY ENTITLED to receive. I just feel bad that they have Jackson's shitty name plastered all over their cause!

Where are they gonna go? Where would you go if you lost your job today? IMHO, let your rock throwing and criticism wait until after the 60 day's notice expires or whenever the job market can SUPPORT ABSORBING THESE EMPLOYEES.... then tear them apart.

Let me turn that around and ask what you think the company should do. Call it bad planning on their part if you will, but if they don't have it, they don't have it. Take them to court and take their chances or whatever. And yes, I was with the Teamsters for 7 years. I also knew that nothing was guaranteed despite what was written in the contract.

LTRT wrote:
I guess you never worked for Tokheim Corp here in the Fort. I did for 11 yrs (UAW) before I quit in 2000. Shortly after that they filed 1st bankruptcy, I think about 18 mos. later the 2nd filing, then bingo, the doors closed forever. I could tell you stories of many former employees (and could give ya lots of names if you'd like to contact them) who NEVER got what was in the contract.

Tokheim? No way. I could give you a couple names as well.

Markwes wrote:

meta4 wrote:Dudes... it's in the freakin' contract. Have any of you ever been UNION? Have you ever signed a contract?

If so, then you should understand. They see this as an investment of their time into something they were CONTRACTUALLY ENTITLED to receive. I just feel bad that they have Jackson's shitty name plastered all over their cause!

Where are they gonna go? Where would you go if you lost your job today? IMHO, let your rock throwing and criticism wait until after the 60 day's notice expires or whenever the job market can SUPPORT ABSORBING THESE EMPLOYEES.... then tear them apart.

Let me turn that around and ask what you think the company should do. Call it bad planning on their part if you will, but if they don't have it, they don't have it. Take them to court and take their chances or whatever. And yes, I was with the Teamsters for 7 years. I also knew that nothing was guaranteed despite what was written in the contract.

I think the company should screw the union until their junk is nothing more than a raw bloody stub. At this point, the "Cat in the box" is most definitely dead. Of course the former employees will see no money unless the Gov steps in to help. I'm wondering why the police hasn't disbanded this demonstration. It can't be FREE to heat that building now can it?

First off BOA got only 15 billion. 15 billion it told the government it didn't need or want and Paulson forced them to take the money.

The company was behind in it's payments to BOA so they cut off their line of credit. Isn't loaning companies that don't pay back their loans what got us in this mess?

So whine about the company but I got to agree with BOA on cutting off their credit.

Scooby01_98 wrote:First off BOA got only 15 billion. 15 billion it told the government it didn't need or want and Paulson forced them to take the money.

The company was behind in it's payments to BOA so they cut off their line of credit. Isn't loaning companies that don't pay back their loans what got us in this mess?

So whine about the company but I got to agree with BOA on cutting off their credit.

Throw in the $10 Billion for ML and you get the $25 billion.

I've read everything that the bank has published and can not find a single reference to them being behind in their payments. The official release just says the company had received all the money the bank was willing to lend and that the company was unable to run a profitable business in this economy. Interestingly, the bank had already been notified that the company would cease operations in January and there is some talk that management/owners were removing expensive machinery from the plant.

I didn't realize ML got 10B....the boards just approved the merger this week so didn't put the 2 amounts together.

Still BOA didn't want the money and the government forced them to take it. Something just seems wrong about that from the gov't side. Of course BOA spent 7 or 9 B buying another bank since it didn't know what else to do with the money. Funny thing is it is a Chinese bank.

i read there is an investigation going on. since they know they couldnt continue since january, they would legally have been obligated to give 2 months notice to the employees in writing, and advise just what they could expect far as accumulated pto etc, and severance if any. it seems the problem isnt that they shut down so much as how they did it?

Vis wrote:

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Entitlement to wages they've already earned,,, how dare they. So we have a company that took 25 million in bailout money to, you know LOAN to companies for things like wages, but decides instead to not use taxpayer money to help the economy as it was intended, and then company B decides to up and close it's doors in violation of the law, not to mention any common decency, and your issue is that the workers are demonstrating to get what is legally theirs?

I guess you have a point, and while I can see some individuals seeing the need to do a sit in, I would be of the opinion that it would just be a waste of time that would be better spent finding a job.

A company I was with folded and screwed me out of a week's vacation and a week's pay... the bank contacted me 3-4 days after they locked the doors and asked if I could stay on to help inventory equipment for the liquidation. I turned them down, knowing that an additional 2 weeks was something that would be a waste of time, so I went to a recruiter, he set me up with a couple intereviews that didnt pan out, then I asnwered an ad in the paper and it did... 3-4 months later I got a call from Ken Doll (that was really his name) asking if I wanted to kick in legal fees for a class action suit... Ummm... lemme see they screwed me out of $1200, and now I want to spend some additional money so a lawyer can screw me out of $300.... Ken, wtf didnt you just get a job?

Some semblence of VICTORY for the workers! Something is better than nothing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28144080/

BREAKING NEWS

updated 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
CHICAGO - Bank of America says it will extend credit to a Chicago window and door maker whose workers have occupied the factory for five days.

The bank said Tuesday that it's willing to give the Republic Windows and Doors factory "a limited amount of additional loans." That's so it can resolve claims of employees who have staged a sit-in since Friday.

The factory closed Friday after Bank of America canceled its financing.

pez wrote:

Vis wrote:

LTRT wrote:

pez wrote:This is bullshit... I swear, if I am abruptly fired, I'm not going to have time to stage a sit in at my former job... because I will be way too busy trying to find another job so my kids can eat. I dont get this mentality...

I agree 100%, must be that 'sense of entitlement' thing.

Entitlement to wages they've already earned,,, how dare they. So we have a company that took 25 million in bailout money to, you know LOAN to companies for things like wages, but decides instead to not use taxpayer money to help the economy as it was intended, and then company B decides to up and close it's doors in violation of the law, not to mention any common decency, and your issue is that the workers are demonstrating to get what is legally theirs?

I guess you have a point, and while I can see some individuals seeing the need to do a sit in, I would be of the opinion that it would just be a waste of time that would be better spent finding a job.

A company I was with folded and screwed me out of a week's vacation and a week's pay... the bank contacted me 3-4 days after they locked the doors and asked if I could stay on to help inventory equipment for the liquidation. I turned them down, knowing that an additional 2 weeks was something that would be a waste of time, so I went to a recruiter, he set me up with a couple intereviews that didnt pan out, then I asnwered an ad in the paper and it did... 3-4 months later I got a call from Ken Doll (that was really his name) asking if I wanted to kick in legal fees for a class action suit... Ummm... lemme see they screwed me out of $1200, and now I want to spend some additional money so a lawyer can screw me out of $300.... Ken, wtf didnt you just get a job?

I see where you're coming from to a degree and I understand the thought process of finding something else to replace the lost income and feed the family. I really think that one of the major contributing factors to the sit-in was to prevent the machinery and product from being taken out and sold or set up somewhere else. From some of the interviews with workers anyway, that seemed to be the concern, a belief that if it wasn't prevented from being removed then there would be no way of collecting anything they were owed.

I worked for a company that closed it's doors abruptly as well and when they finally did the auction... employees got to the front of the line (usually it goes from largest to smallest I think, but wages moved to the top spot) we, honest to God, stood there in line waiting our turn at the cash box as the Sheriff paid us and if you were in line and the money ran out then you lost out.

I think it is crappy that BOA caved in to this. Yeah that's the ticket company going bankrupt gets more financing that BOA won't get back. Then we wonder why banks are failing (or blame them for bad loans)....not that BOA has anything to worry about failing but still just doesn't make sense.

Scooby01_98 wrote:I think it is crappy that BOA caved in to this. Yeah that's the ticket company going bankrupt gets more financing that BOA won't get back. Then we wonder why banks are failing (or blame them for bad loans)....not that BOA has anything to worry about failing but still just doesn't make sense.

We need Executive Salary (total income) caps.

Scooby01_98 wrote:I think it is crappy that BOA caved in to this. Yeah that's the ticket company going bankrupt gets more financing that BOA won't get back. Then we wonder why banks are failing (or blame them for bad loans)....not that BOA has anything to worry about failing but still just doesn't make sense.

Typically the loans/lines of credit are secured by assets. Assets which the bank has access to but the employees don't. Why do you hate the average worker so much?

Bman wrote:

Scooby01_98 wrote:I think it is crappy that BOA caved in to this. Yeah that's the ticket company going bankrupt gets more financing that BOA won't get back. Then we wonder why banks are failing (or blame them for bad loans)....not that BOA has anything to worry about failing but still just doesn't make sense.

We need Executive Salary (total income) caps.

Do we really NEED that?

My conundrum is that I dont think the government has business bailing out companies to begin with. So the fact that the government partly owns these Companies now should give them oversight.... I think the cap on executive salary is a feel-good for the government that will allow them to say, "by god we are doing something..." The unfortunate thing is that the type of oversight I feel we need doesnt have as much to do with what CEO MAKES, and Has more to do with the kind of oversight that allows the government to control what the CEO DOES...

Vis wrote:

Scooby01_98 wrote:I think it is crappy that BOA caved in to this. Yeah that's the ticket company going bankrupt gets more financing that BOA won't get back. Then we wonder why banks are failing (or blame them for bad loans)....not that BOA has anything to worry about failing but still just doesn't make sense.

Typically the loans/lines of credit are secured by assets. Assets which the bank has access to but the employees don't. Why do you hate the average worker so much?

Has nothing to do with the average worker.

The company Fucked up didn't give the 60 days notice required by federal law. The company didn't make payments on their loans. This is BOA fault?!?!?!

So someone at BOA actually did their job saw the company going down, saw them not making payments on their loan and did a GOOD business decision and pulled their credit line.

Isn't bad loans what got us started in this financial mess in the first place??? Do you think BOA is not going to try to recoup the loses after the sale of assets by not charging higher rates or fees to other business and consumers increasing their costs? Is this fair too those businesses because a company didn't do what it was suppose to and instead of letting the bank do the correct thing; it caved to pressure even though it did the RIGHT thing business wise.

Everytime a company goes out of biz I can see it now,

A sit-in is in order.

Scooby01_98 wrote:Has nothing to do with the average worker.

The company Fucked up didn't give the 60 days notice required by federal law. The company didn't make payments on their loans. This is BOA fault?!?!?!

So someone at BOA actually did their job saw the company going down, saw them not making payments on their loan and did a GOOD business decision and pulled their credit line.

Isn't bad loans what got us started in this financial mess in the first place??? Do you think BOA is not going to try to recoup the loses after the sale of assets by not charging higher rates or fees to other business and consumers increasing their costs? Is this fair too those businesses because a company didn't do what it was suppose to and instead of letting the bank do the correct thing; it caved to pressure even though it did the RIGHT thing business wise.

Have to agree. There's no reason for the bank to have to get involved. What should happen is that the owner should have to pay up. If he doesn't, start auctioning off hardware, facilities, and property to pay the people. Someone gets a good deal on equipment and land, and the people get their paychecks.

I tell you, if I didn't get paid, I'm going to find a way to steal something or extract my paycheck in another manner.