Workers Win by Occupying Factory

By Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress

26 February 12

ack in December 2008, laid off workers at Republic Windows and Doors - a factory in Chicago - occupied their workplace to demand back vacation and severance pay, and to protest the fact that they were given just three days notice of impending job cuts. Eventually, the bank’s lender, Bank of America, relented, giving the workers what they were owed. At the time, then President-elect Obama offered his support to the protesting workers, saying, "the workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they’re absolutely right."

More than three years later, the same factory has had to be occupied again. Now owned by California-based Serious Energy, the factory was going to be closed until workers locked themselves inside. Now, Serious has vowed to keep the factory open for 90 days, giving workers time to either find a new buyer or purchase the business themselves:

Workers at a window factory on Goose Island ended a sit-in early Friday morning after the company agreed to keep the plant open for 90 days, union leaders said.

California-based Serious Energy will work with the workers to find a new ownership.

"We are committed to finding a new buyer for the plant or if we can, buy the place ourselves and run it. Either way, we are hopeful," Armando Robles, president of UE Local 1110, said in a statement.

"We can run this company," said Juan Cortez, a worker at the factory for 23 years. "We got smart people [to] manage the money. We can find customers. We know how to run the company."

The protesting workers were joined by members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. But such moves by workers are becoming increasingly rare. Work stoppages last year were the second lowest on record, according to data from the Labor Department.