Workers Re-Occupy Window Factory in Chicago Area

[Martin Blank]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-republic-windows-redux-workers-occupy-goose-island-plant-20120223,0,4716311.story


A group of about 65 workers who occupied a Goose Island window factory in 2008 have once again locked themselves inside the plant in a desperate move to save their jobs.

California-based Serious Energy said Thursday it is closing the plant's doors and consolidating operations in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

"Ongoing economic challenges in construction and building products, collapse in demand for window products, difficulty in obtaining favorable lease terms, high leasing and utility costs and taxes, and a range of other factors unrelated to labor costs, have compelled Serious to cease production at the Chicago facility," the company said in a statement.

Oscar Abarca, 64, said he got a call from union representatives this morning and was told not to leave the building when shift ended at 2 p.m.

He gathered with the other workers in the cafeteria for a few hours. Some played games or sat quietly to wait for news about their jobs. He needed some air and stepped outside. Police showed up, he said, and he wasn't allowed back in. He's been waiting by the front doors since then with a growing number of former employees, students and local labor organizations.

Union leaders say they want time to buy the company or find a buyer. Negotiations inside the plant continue by phone with officials from the company in California.

The layoffs come more than three years after a group of about 200 workers from Republic Windows & Doors organized a six-day sit-in demanding vacation and severance pay after being laid off in December 2008.

The battle drew national media attention. After three days, a settlement was reached. Each union worker received a check for about $6,000 just days after Republic Windows filed for protection under Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Serious Energy bought the 268,000 square foot plant in 2009 with the promise of hiring back the former Republic workers. Leah Fried, a spokeswoman for UE Local 110, said that the new company never hired back more than 75 of the workers.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I hope that more workers use occupation tactics. Occupation has a noble history in the USA and workers ought to reclaim that history.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

It would be interesting if the workers had some outreach or connection with the Occupy movement. Although this isn't anything near the scale of labor battles in the 1930s, still an "Occupy Workplace" meme would send a shiver down the spine of the ruling class.

[Martin Blank]

From what I saw, there are Occupy Chicago folks already heading down to the factory.

[KurtFF8]

Amazing, I hope this inspires others to do so. Unfortunately it didn't the last time, but perhaps the Occupy movement will give it a boost (considering the obvious linkage)

[workersadvocate]

I see the OP article comes from Chicago Tribune. Any other mainstream media covering this story, and if so, how much attention are they directing to it?
Mainstream media have a tendency to sweep such things under the rug or put the quietly tucked where few will notice.
The ruling class wanted any anticapitalist pro-worker politically independent and militant aspects of Occupy to die off, but oh how beautiful it would be if these workplace occupiers and Occupy Chicago could foil those plans and even re-start the Occupy movement with new oh-so-timely momentum among the working class and our workplaces!

[ckaihatsu]

Workers occupy Chicago factory: Goose Island 2.0

By Staff

Chicago IL - 50 workers at Serious Materials, the window factory formerly known as Republic Windows and Doors, reported to work the morning of Feb. 23 only to be told that today would be their last day of work. Workers talked throughout the day and at 2:30 p.m. they came off the line and told the boss that they were not leaving the factory. They would not let the factory be stripped of its machines and sold piece by piece while they were out of a job.

Armando Robles, a Serious worker and veteran of the Republic Windows battle who is inside the plant, said workers are united and standing strong. “We are in it to win. We can hear the supporters outside and it is giving us strength.”

This is the same factory with the same union and some of the same workers that inspired the country in 2008 when they occupied the Republic Windows and Doors factory to demand the pay and benefits due to them when that company closed abruptly.

The workers are represented by UE Local 1110. Leah Fried, UE organizer said, “Our only demand is that we be given a chance to save these jobs. What we want is time - time to find a buyer or even to make it possible for the workers to buy and run the factory themselves. We want time to save these jobs.”

Supporters continue to gather outside the plant, located at 1333 N Hickory Avenue in Chicago.
Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






Sent to [email protected] — why did I get this?
unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences
Fight Back! News · P.O. Box 582564 · Minneapolis, MN 55440

[Martin Blank]

For those who want to follow the discussion on Twitter, the hashtag is "#seriousoccupation".

[KurtFF8]

Seems they already won Workers in factory occupation claim victory (http://www.wbez.org/story/workers-factory-occupation-claim-victory-96696)




About 60 employees of a Chicago window factory are claiming victory after an 11-hour occupation of the plant.
Their union, the United Electrical Workers, says it reached a deal Friday morning with the plant’s owner, California-based Serious Energy, Inc.
The deal, according to the union, requires the company to suspend plans to close the factory immediately. Instead the company will keep the plant open another 90 days.
The employees hope the extra time will enable them to find a buyer or purchase the factory themselves.
“We can run this company,” said Juan Cortez, who has worked more than 23 years in the factory. “We got smart people [to] manage the money. We can find customers. We know how to run the company.”
Employees at the plant captured national attention in 2008 by occupying the factory for six days. Back then, the owner was a company called Republic Windows and Doors.
That occupation pushed Bank of America, a Republic lender, to reach a nearly $1.75 million settlement with the workers.

[Arilou Lalee'lay]

Seems they already won compromised


Since 1936 I have fought for wage increases. My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a TV, a fridge, a Volkswagen. Yet my whole life has been a drag. Don’t negotiate with the bosses. Abolish them.

lol @ needing at least one character not in quotes. Here you go, bourgeois forum programmers:
▲
▲ ▲

[KurtFF8]

One of the options here is having the workers own the factory, would that be a compromise? (Well to some extent I guess so since they would have to buy it)

[Arilou Lalee'lay]

One of the options here is having the workers own the factory, would that be a compromise?

Yes, unless they kept going. Co-ops/socialism-in-one-workplace will always eventually die out because of statistics (everyone eventually goes out of business, capitalists have a much stronger motive to expand, thus environmental degradation).

I don't mean to be a downer though, it's great news.

[Martin Blank]

http://www.occupiedchicagotribune.org/?p=587


http://occupiedchicagotribune.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/u8hlm.jpg (http://occupiedchicagotribune.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/u8hlm.jpg)
Armando Robles, a worker at Serious Materials and president of UE Local
1110, raises his fist inside the occupied factory. Photo by Aaron Cynic.

A Serious Occupation: Workers Occupy Goose Island Factory (http://occupiedchicagotribune.org/?p=587)

February 23rd, 2012

By Rosa Trakhtensky, Nick Burt, Joe Macaré and Dan Massoglia; with thanks to Aaron Cynic, Micah Uetricht and Kenzo Shibata.

A little over two years after the Republic Windows and Doors workers in Chicago won back their pay and benefits from the closing company by occupying their Goose Island factory, they are at it again. The workers are occupying the same factory, now owned by Serious Materials, to protest being laid off without notice after the closure of the factory.

“We are not leaving until we are satisfied,” Melvin Maclin, a worker at Serious Materials and vice president of UE Local 1110, told the Occupied Chicago Tribune.

Arise Chicago issued an action alert (http://www.icontact-archive.com/ZCyP2A7FHTBXkUdUXY5V0-rNHMZ-lDgE?w=2) announcing the action:
UE [United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America] union is occupying Serious Materials factory, the former Republic Windows, right now.
They need your help and support!
Please come as soon as you can!
Join UE and Arise Chicago:
1333 N. Hickory Chicago (Division & 3 blocks west of Halsted)
According to organizer and journalist Micah Uetricht (https://twitter.com/#%21/micahuetricht), who is updating from a press conference at the scene via Twitter: “[W]orkers were told today it was to be last day of production. Workers demanded chance to find buyer, save jobs… or start worker-owned cooperative. Company said no, so they occupied.”

Pizza was delivered to the occupying workers, but met with some resistance from Chicago police present. According to Uetricht, the pizza was let in after chants of “let the workers eat,” and after one supporter told the police: “Sir, you don’t want to be on camera denying workers pizza.” But according to Chicagoist reporter Aaron Cynic (http://twitter.com/aaroncynic), the CPD “refused to let more food into” the building.

When the factory was Republic Windows and Doors, it was the recipient of millions of dollars of TIF money (http://www.illinoispirg.org/blogs/tax-dollars-and-sense/ilp/case-study-republic-windows-and-doors) from Chicago taxpayers. In 2008, the factory drew national attention when around 200 workers participated in a six-day sit-down strike to demand severance pay and back wages.
Occupy Chicago’s labor committee has announced (http://twitter.com/OClaboroutreach) that they support the workers’ occupation of Serious Materials.

Updated: 9:40 p.m. CT: Occupy Chicago now have a livestream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupychi) from outside the factory.

According to CTU Local 1 editor and Huffington Post blogger Kenzo Shibata (http://twitter.com/KenzoShibata), “Workers and management were close to an agreement. Now management wants to back out.” Earlier, Shibata uploaded the following video of the start of the occupation:

7H-XB5TgFFE

10 p.m. CT: The Occupied Chicago Tribune‘s Nick Burt is now outside the occupied factory. He describes the scene and what’s going on currently:
About 80 people braving the rain. More cycling through to pick up coffee and supplies. A cop just came to order a group of supporters to take down a tent (not for camping, the kind that covers a table). He says they need a permit. Workers send messages of gratitude through a spokeswoman.
Still no deal. Negotiating with [Serious Energy] national office in California. Pledge to stay as long as it takes. Workers inside were delivered food and water. Are in good shape. Spokeswoman says workers want option to buy factory to run as a co-op, but there’s been no answer to how much that would cost.
10:20 p.m. CT: Nick Burt says “Tent still standing. Good thing. Pouring.” The weather in Chicago tonight is indeed wet and cold. Or as Uetrich put it, “Would be lying if I said this rain isn’t miserable.”

Kenzo Shibata says UE organizer Leah Fried addressed supporters and told them negotiations are reaching a higher level.

11:05 p.m. CT: Reinforcements from Occupy Chicago have now arrived at the factory with tents and sleeping bags, according to Nick Burt. Uetricht says the sleeping bags are for the workers inside, but it seems likely that there will be some kind of solidarity camp outside overnight. While Burt had not spoken to anyone who confirmed they planned to camp out at the time of writing, occupier and Occupied Chicago Tribune contributor Dan Massoglia (tweeting as @jujueyeball (http://twitter.com/jujueyeball)) posted a photo of tent gear (https://twitter.com/#%21/jujueyeball/status/172909567657787392/photo/1) with the comment “Plans to camp.”

11:25 p.m. CT: It’s official, tents have gone up outside the factory, (https://twitter.com/#%21/jujueyeball/status/172912429959872513/photo/1) along with a banner reading “WORKERS UNITE.” According to Massoglia, the workers inside have shown their reciprocal solidarity with the campers outside by sending out tacos, some of the additional food which, despite CPD reluctance, was delivered to them.

11:35 p.m. CT: UE union organizer Mark Meinster, who helped plan the Republic Windows and Doors occupation, just made a statement on behalf of the occupying workers in which he said that they are down to last details of an agreement with Serious Energy. Workers are demanding that the company keep the plant open three more months to explore different options, including looking for another buyer. They’re also demanding pay for workers during that time. Meinster said if the company were at the table a deal would have been done three hours ago, but instead workers have been negotiating with the national office by phone.

“We had to Occupy, that’s why we expect to get everything we asked for this morning,” he said. What remains to be ironed out are minor details like a joint press release, and Meinster hopes to make a formal announcement soon. In the meantime about 30 people are still there outside with ponchos and hand-warmers, including Occupy Chicago members and workers from plant, some of whom were laid off in November.

2:14 a.m. CT: Workers have ended the occupation, exiting the factory through the main doors around 1 a.m., with the company apparently having agreed to their demands. Writes (https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-meinster/workers-strike-a-deal-to-try-and-save-jobs/10150593980788542) UE’s Mark Meinster:
A deal has now been struck to try and save the jobs. Serious Energy has agreed to keep the plant operational and people on the job for another 90 days while the union workers and the company work together to find a way to keep the plant open with new ownership because the plant will no longer be part of Serious Energy’s business plan. After 9 hours the occupation has ended with a hopeful workforce.
A cold and soggy night concludes thusly, with the tactics of occupation appearing to be validated once again at a factory on North Hickory Avenue.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I hope this is a lasting victory. Good to that UE is involved. They were purged from the CIO back in the late 40s as a "Red" union.

[RedTrackWorker]

Co-ops are no general solution but they can work sometimes and perhaps there for a period of time. But Serious had hired back less than half the workers, could the coop hire back all those looking for work from Republic?

But this is why the League argued the strategy to generalize the struggle would be to demand "Nationalize All Failing Industries" (http://lrp-cofi.org/statements/republicworkers.html), because not all workplaces can hope for another buyer or to become a coop, so as inspiring as the first occupation was, it became difficult to generalize. The UE considered a less political version of the nationalization approach for Republic, but when the Democratic Party shot that done they quietly went along and said the only way was a new buyer.

[Martin Blank]

Co-ops are no general solution but they can work sometimes and perhaps there for a period of time. But Serious had hired back less than half the workers, could the coop hire back all those looking for work from Republic?

But this is why the League argued the strategy to generalize the struggle would be to demand "Nationalize All Failing Industries" (http://lrp-cofi.org/statements/republicworkers.html), because not all workplaces can hope for another buyer or to become a coop, so as inspiring as the first occupation was, it became difficult to generalize.

I'm actually much more negative about co-ops than it seems you are. I don't really see them as a solution at all. It seems that they almost always end up as standard capitalist enterprises, especially if they end up being "successful" and last for more than a generation.

But whether it becomes a co-op or gets another owner -- or whether the "nationalization" slogan is a valid one -- is really not the main lesson to be gleaned from this Serious occupation, in my view. I mean, do I really have to say it -- that these workers accomplished more in nine hours than the #Occupy movement has in five months?

The bosses and their media couldn't ignore or even insult them. They were not pushed out on to the streets by the cops (even though there were cops inside the building). It was over and the bosses were pushed back before the radical reactionaries were able to even muster a comment. The #Occupy movement in Chicago played a good auxiliary role, but that's all it really was.

I don't see this as a condemnation of #Occupy, but rather as an example of what an occupation can really do when it is in the hands of the working class. I see it as a "teaching moment" for the entire #Occupy movement -- a not-so-subtle reminder of who really has the power (and, incidentally, a stunning confirmation of the validity of our argument in favor of building a workplace occupation movement). If there is going to be a future for #Occupy (both the concept and the movement), it will have to be through the working class organizing itself and using occupation as a weapon of class struggle.

[JeVousAimeGuillotine]

Are these guys the same workers that are shown in Capitalism: A Love Story?

[KurtFF8]

Yes