18-12-2008, 04:16 PM
Myra Bronstein Wrote:...
This is a must read: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/556
...
Here is the entire piece:
"Echoes of Injustice Travel from Chicago to Iowa: The Story Behind the Republic Window Settlement Submitted
by meg on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 4:20pm. A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White
The standoff at Republic Windows & Doors finally ended last week. The Chicago company that said it couldn't get the money from its bank to pay its fired workers had no more excuses, and members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) Local 1110 left the factory they'd been peacefully occupying since the beginning of the month.
The enormous pressure applied by leaders all over the country, along with support from President-elect Barack Obama, opened the floodgates. Bank of America finally agreed to pay out a $1.35 million settlement to laid-off workers. JP Morgan Chase, which owns a minority share in the now-defunct company, pitched in an extra $400,000. The money went straight into two funds: one to pay workers the severance and vacation pay owed to them by Republic, and the other to try and write a new chapter in the story of the decades-old factory.
This was the heartening headline splashed on newspapers across the country. But a more sinister tale may just be beginning for workers in another Midwestern state.
As BuzzFlash reported at the time, after finding out they'd be out of work in three days at the beginning of December, workers at Republic Windows & Doors Inc. staged a sit-in at the factory to secure the benefits the company said it couldn't pay. Politicians all over the state threatened to stop doing business with Bank of America and its subsidiaries until they paid out a loan to Republic so management could comply with its legal obligations to its former workers.
Negotiations have been ongoing, as has the sit-in, since the plant shut down. According to The New York Times, Republic CEO Rich Gillman demanded that any settlement with the bank also include money to pay for the leases on his BMW and Mercedes, as well as eight weeks worth of his salary. The final deal, announced last Wednesday, did not include such additions. Republic filed for bankruptcy that Friday.
Gillman was widely quoted to have blamed Republic's collapse on the broader economy and the credit freeze, calling the situation "a microcosm of what is happening to many large and small businesses" during the sit-in. But now it seems that Republic's story isn't all that representative.
There were signs that the company had been planning on leaving Chicago well before they broke the news to workers. During Gillman's brief tenure as CEO of Republic, the workforce was nearly halved by layoffs. The New York Times reported that union leaders noticed management had been making off with equipment weeks before the announcement.
Complaining about the high production costs in Chicago, Gillman had previously tried to purchase another plant in Ohio, but Bank of America turned him down for the loan. According to Republic's own statements, the company approached Bank of America back on October 16 about an "orderly wind down" culminating in its closing the factory in January.
The most obvious clue of Republic's intentions was carried out very quietly. Weeks before Republic's closing, Echo Windows & Doors LLC was incorporated in Illinois. Chitown Daily News reported that Echo was incorporated in Iowa about one week later. Neither list Rich Gillman as the head of the business, but the Iowa incorporation is under his wife's name. Echo then proceeded to buy a window and door manufacturing plant in Red Oak, IA, previously owned by a faltering company called Traco.
It seems that, despite fears of the Illinois Attorney General, Republic's customers aren't much affected by the shutdown of the Chicago factory. A glass trade publication article cites industry dealers as saying they've simply moved their orders from Republic to Echo. Another industry publication is reporting that the former vice president of sales at Republic is now the main contact for www.echowindows.com.
With such a sequence of events, it's natural to wonder whether Republic was run into the ground in order to set up elsewhere for cheaper. Leah Fried, an organizer with UE that is working with the former Republic workers, said it's impossible for her to say what the former owners of Republic have been planning, since the union has always had a tough time getting the truth from them.
"The management -- especially Rich Gillman -- has been very dishonest," Fried said in a telephone interview with BuzzFlash. Of Gillman, she said "he's never straight with us."
Local news reports quote city organizers and other Iowans as nervous about labor problems at the former Traco plant, now that the Gillmans are relocating to Red Oak. According to an article from Midlands News Service, the Iowa workers hired after the buyout of Traco had to sign confidentiality agreements and have already seen an increased workload since the takeover. The article goes on to say the workers are not unionized, and are paid $10 to $12 an hour.
Fried said she couldn't be sure if Iowa could count on Echo to be a positive factor in the manufacturing landscape in Red Oak.
"With Rich Gillman, anything is possible," she said wryly.
She also noted that, while there are UE members in Iowa, it is a "Right to Work" state, and Illinois is not. The Right to Work law makes organizing a union more difficult, often resulting in lower pay. Fried called the law "anti worker."
"There are pro-union people everywhere; it's just a matter of if there are laws to support their rights," she said.
No matter what happens in Iowa, the workers in Chicago are likely glad to be rid of the Gillmans. The Window of Opportunity Fund, set up with some of their settlement money, will be used to create new jobs for the workers.
The executive board, comprised of former workers at the plant, has been meeting over the last few weeks to decide how they can re-open the plant. Fried said they haven't determined yet whether to forge a partnership with a new management team, or possibly re-open the plant under a union-run cooperative, but the ultimate objective is to get the quiet factory humming again.
"This is a place that should've stayed open," Fried said, adding that because the skilled workers make energy-efficient products, the factory can be economically viable for the long term. "The goal is to reopen the plant and create employment."
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS"