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Three Cheers for Workers Who Waged the Sit-In |
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Congratulations to workers at Republic Windows & Doors who made justice happen. After a six-day sit-in at the plant, workers at Republic Windows & Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late last night.
This from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) site, via Jobs with Justice:
The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:
- Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act;
- Two months of continued health coverage; and
- Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.
JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America. Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them. In addition, the UE has started the “Window of Opportunity Fund” dedicated to re-opening the plant.
As the UE Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, “We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won.”
Initially, the Bank of America, after receiving $25 million in taxpayer bailout cash, cut off the company’s line of credit. The factory then closed and management told workers they would not receive severance and accrued vacation pay.
Workers at Republic Windows & Doors have won, but the struggle for autoworkers at the Big Three now depends upon how the U.S. Senate will vote on the bridge loan approved last night in the House.
Take a minute NOW to urge your senators to vote for the auto bridge loan.
7 Comments
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Dear AFL/CIO:
So you see, having shown Congress how utterly willing we were to do give-backs and restructure,
they, the Republicans, now ask for more, and as for the Democrats, they are utterly spineless.
Maybe next time, the president of the UAW will wait before (prematurely) running to please.
Talk about playing your ace on the opening round . . . wow!
Bank of America has not used $1 of the $25 billion they have been provided, and Paulson pleaded with Bank of America to accept the funds availability. Despite this fact, Bank of America is being held as the “bad guy” that didn’t come to the rescue of the worker. They had absolutely no obligation to do so and haven’t used any taxpayer money.
Organized labor must recognize the fact that wages and benefits must be competitive with their respective industry. We not only compete nationally, but we are not in a global economy and must compete with global companies. UAW must adjust wages and benefits to conform to other auto manufacturers. Wages and benefits totaling double the wages of factory workers in American factories owned by foreign companies is unsustainable. We are sacrificing our global competitiveness at the behest of the UAW.
The AFL-CIO should influence the UAW in an appropriate manner to make necessary concessions in wage rates to enable our U.S.-owned auto manufacturing industry to remain competitive.
Now THAT’s the way to strike. Please bring back sit-downs. Nothing is accomplished when we step outside and allow the corporation to bring in replacement workers and scabs. (I know it’s not germaine to this case, but file the idea away.)
Worker deserve what was negotiated in good faith with the auto industry. They gave up other items to achieve what they have and have now renegotiated until it hurts. When tariffs were increased on imports in the late 70’s, Detroit could have undersold them all but chose to raise the price of a car to be comparable for a larger profit margin. And management has failed to design more fuel-efficient cars and retool plants. How is that the fault of workers?
Actually we are allowing foreign government subsidized industries to destroy the industrial base in America but using union busting tactics to keep workers down.
The UE members showed that if you take a stand for justice, you can win. Hopefully that will embolden the UAW and the rest of labor to stand up against any and all concessions.
The reason labor costs may be lower in some other countries than in the US is because health care costs are covered by their governments. To level the playing field means pushing hard for the passage of HR 676 and other measures in states to enact Single Payer.
Before any more concessions are made workers should organize a takeover of one of the auto makers’ factories as well as corporate headquarters. We can do a better job than the overpaid incompetent CEOs who have destroyed the companies and the US economy.
The UAW Leadership and the Rank-inFile must display the same courage like the workers who staged the sit-in.
The hard earned Wages, Benefits and Pensions must be protected.
The only way we will ever turn this economy around is by raising non-union workers wages, benefits and pensions not by lowering Union wages, benefits and pensions.
We cannot allow these anti-Union Republicans and Blue Dog democrats to smash the Labor movement at this critical juncture. We must be vigilant and resist their efforts for one more month.
When Obama takes office thing will begin to change for the better.
Hey! Wake up! This is no victory! These workers may have done something a little different by sitting down in their plant, but they still lost their jobs at a plant that was making a profit. A victory would be if they took the plant over and ran it themselves!