Workers occupy Chicago factory for fifth day

A team of World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke with workers at Republic Windows and Doors. About 250 workers have occupied their factory since being abruptly laid off last week.

Raul Flores, who has worked at the company for eight years—since he graduated from high school— said that when workers returned to work on Monday, December 1, they noticed that “a whole line of production was gone, equipment and everything.” The company then laid off 39 people.

After the full closure of the plant was announced later in the week, workers immediately made the decision to occupy the plant, Flores explained. “We said, ‘Hey, if they take everything out of here, how are they going to pay us?’ We’re taking care of the machines and windows in there, because that’s our future, that’s our money.”

Flores noted that Republic said it was forced to close its doors after Bank of America cut off the company’s credit line. With regard to the bailout of Wall Street, which has reached upwards of $7 trillion, some $25 billion of which has gone to Bank of America, Flores expressed a sentiment no doubt shared by many US workers. “The federal government gave this money to Bank of America. You paid your taxes. I paid my taxes. Everybody paid their taxes. So basically we’re paying them to get us fired.”

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http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/ints-d10.shtml

Workers and some of their supporters at the occupied Republic Windows and Door factory on Chicago's near north side spoke with a team of reporters from the World Socialist Web Site on Tuesday afternoon, December 9, as their struggle approached the end of its fifth day. Company management had fired the entire workforce the previous Friday, claiming that because the Bank of America had refused to extend credit, the company was compelled to shut its doors in bankruptcy.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/chiv-d10.shtml