Results tagged “sitin”

A sit-in protest by Centro Communitario Juan Diego on the South Side this morning - protesting the installation of new parking meter pay boxes - led to a pair of arrests. Two women plopped themselves right on top of the site where LAZ Parking was trying to install the box and earned themselves each a pair of cuffs. The Parking Ticket Geek has the details and pictures.

Workers at the Rochester, NY Hickey-Freeman plant, which is owned by parent company Hartmarx, voted Wednesday to join Illinois workers in a sit-in if Wells-Fargo shutters and liquidates the Des Plaines suit maker, effectively throwing 3,500 families out of work. “There are a lot of married couples that work here. If they lost their jobs, their families would be devastated,” said Debbie Glinski, who has worked at Hickey-Freeman in Rochester for 15 years.

Workers at the Des Plaines Hartmarx suit plant voted Monday to stage a sit in - a la Republic Windows and Doors - if Wells Fargo goes forward with plans to liquidate the company and its assets. Hartmarx filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, and Wells Fargo, which took $25 billion in federal bank bailout funding in October, holds over $100 million of the company’s debt. Wells Fargo issued a statement on Monday saying that Hartmarx "has been in default of its loan obligations to banks in the group that have provided it credit, including Wachovia Capital Finance, part of Wells Fargo."

Publisher Melville House has announced that Chicago-based writer Kari Lydersen's account of the Republic Windows and Doors sit-in on her blog at the Washington Post a blog on the publisher's website is being turned into a book, due out in early 2009. Because nothing screams riveting page-turner like a sordid tale of severance pay, bad credit, and people sitting around on lawn chairs. No offense to Ms. Lydersen, but other than the people that actually did the sitting in, who's going to buy this book? Perhaps the publisher is hoping union leaders will snap up lots of copies to hand out to members as a how-to guide.

After a six day sit-in by workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory, an agreement to end the protest was reached. The workers approved a $1.75 million deal which will pay each worker eight weeks' salary, all accrued vacation pay and two months' paid health care. Late last night the workers voted unanimously to end the strike after a 20-hour negotiation involving union members, Republic management, members from the lender companies, and others such as U.S. Rep Luis Gutierrez. We mentioned the $400,000 from JP Morgan Chase that was put towards the deal; in addition, Bank of America has agreed to loan Republic management another $1.35 million.

Governor Rod Blagojevich, who has enough on his mind already, hit the ground running on Monday, ordering all state agencies to cease work with Bank of America in a bid to pressure the bank into negotiating with workers at the Republic Windows and Doors where workers are in a fourth day of a sit-in. Of course, Blago isn't alone on showing support for the workers: President-Elect Obama and a gaggle of Chicago aldermen have jumped into the fray on behalf of the workers.

As the sit-in at the Republic Windows and Doors plant reached its third day, Rev. Jesse Jackson paid a visit to factory workers. The factory was suddenly shut down this week after Bank of America canceled the company's line of credit due to the current economic crisis. Workers, however, are demanding severance packages they say are owed to them. A law signed by Gov. Blagojevich a few years ago backs this claim up. According to NBC 5:

The Illinois WARN Act, signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2004, requires employers to give 60 days notice to employees and their unions, the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s Bureau of Workforce Development and the Illinois Department of Labor, of a plant closing or mass layoff.

Union officials say the line of credit the company had was around $5 million; Bank of America was one of several banks that recently received money in a bailout package from the Federal Government, totaling $25 billion for BoA, which the union says obliges BoA to maintain their commitment to the company. Jackson is meeting with workers in an attempt to work out a deal. According to Jackson's Ranibow PUSH Coalition, Jackson is trying to get BoA to reinstate the credit and keep the factory open, even though BoA claims the factory's finances are not its responsibility.