Laid-Off Workers Refuse to Leave Chicago Factory

Chicago plant employees stage a sit-in demanding severance and vacation pay
By Amelia Atlas,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 7, 2008 6:24 AM CST
Laid-Off Workers Refuse to Leave Chicago Factory
Workers and union organizers rally outside the Republic Windows and Doors factory. Laid-off workers have occupied the building, demanding assurances they'll get benefits coming to them.   (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)

Laid-off workers at a Chicago window manufacturing company are taking matters into their own hands, staging a sit-in at their former plant to demand severance and vacation pay, reports the Chicago Tribune. Union members have been occupying the plant in shifts since the news—given only three days earlier—that the company would close its doors last Friday.

News of the shutdown came after the company's primary lender, Bank of America, cancelled its line of credit, but some workers are suspicious. "I don't believe somebody woke up on Tuesday and simply decided to shut the doors," said the local congressional rep. Vowed one worker: "We've been here since yesterday, and we aren't going anywhere" until demands are met.
(More sit-in stories.)

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