Republic Windows and Doors
Republic Windows and Doors is based in Chicago, Illinios. The company was founded in 1965 by William Spielman. The company was declared bankrupt on December 2, 2008. The property was put under the control of its major creditors, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Several months before the bankruptcy announcement, workers at the company's Goose Island warehouse had noticed that key pieces of equipment were being removed. The leaders of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America[1] (UE) Local 1110, workers in the factory, contacted the national union, concerned that the plant was going to be closed. Despite company assurances that the missing machinery had merely been removed to make way for more modern equipment, the union began covertly monitoring the plant. One night, while monitoring the plant, UE Local 1110 President and Republic maintenance worker Armando Robles and UE union organizer Mark Meinster planned a strategy to occupy the factory in the event of a plant closing.
On December 3, 2008, the executives of the company announced to its workers that it would end operations on December 5 due to Bank of America, its main lender, canceling its line of credit due to a severe downturn in business at the plant.
When the company's 260 employees learned that the plant was indeed closing permanently on December 2, 2008, they came to collect their paychecks. The company informed them that the employees would not be compensated for their accrued sick or vacation days and that their health insurance would be terminated on December 5.
The union lodged a complaint that the company was acting in violation of the WARN Act, a federal law that requires companies to give workers 60 days' notice before mass layoffs. In total, the union claimed that the workers were owed US$1.5 million in vacation and severance pay, as well as an extension in their medical benefits.
Public records show that shortly before the closure of Republic Windows the owners purchased Echo Windows and Doors, a non-unionized window factory in Red Oak, Iowa. The union at Republic Windows later filed charges against this action.
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