THEY WON!!!
The sit-in got results!! The employees of Republic Windows and Doors get their accrued vacation pay plus 8 weeks severance, according to federal law. I believe they are also getting 8 more weeks of health benefits. Some had appointments coming up and were left without any means of paying because the health benefits were dropped immediately. May they be a rallying cry for other workers who find themselves in the same circumstances.
We can have empathy with the more than 250 employees of Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors company. It seems that Bank of America, which just recently received billions of taxpayer dollars in the bailout, pulled the company's credit. The company then decided it had to close immediately and without proper warning. Federal law requires a 60-day notice of a closing or a ‘Warn' payment to each employee to cover the period without notice. Apparently, the laid-off workers aren't receiving any accrued vacation pay in addition to the Warn payments. All this because Bank of America, bailed out by taxpayers to open up credit lending, refuses to do what the legislators intended when they passed the law. This could now become a rallying point for all other workers to be laid off under the same circumstances. Let's give them our support in whatever way we can. The governor of Illinois has already done so, instructing all state agencies to cut all ties to Bank of America. Although we don't know the company's financial situation and who is ultimately responsible for this loss, we can make this Main Street's turn for a bailout. It's too bad this small company cannot align itself with Detroit's Big Three and get some of the money doled out to them. It makes a difference when you have clout. But the little company) just goes down the drain. Maybe, if this sit-in stays on top of the news, there will be no effort to force the workers off the premises. These banks and financial institutions need to understand that the bailout money was not meant to just keep them from going under but to help the economy grow; and that's done by continued lending.
