Here is the crux of the matter. We taxpayers gave BofA twenty-five
billion dollars. BofA shut off the credit line to this business
because their sales fell of sharply during the past month. The workers
were given very short notice.
Day 2 For Workers At Shuttered Window Plant
Union Claims Bank Of America Cut Off Financing For Republic Windows
And Doors
CHICAGO (AP) ― Workers who got three days' notice their factory was
shutting its doors voted to occupy the building and said Saturday they
won't go home without assurances they'll get severance and vacation
pay they say they are owed. . . .
Organizers of the action said the company can't pay employees because
its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows' monthly sales
had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a
memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich
Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors."
Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial
bailout package.
"Across cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this
bailout was a shame," said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local
743. "If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to the
workers of this country."
Outside the plant, protesters wore stickers and carried signs that
said, "You got bailed out, we got sold out."