“I think they’re absolutely right... what’s happening to them
is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.”--President
Barack Obama on the workers at Republic Windows & Doors
December 5, 2008: It wasn’t supposed to work like this. Days
after getting a $45 billion bailout from the U.S. government, Bank
of America shut down a line of credit that kept Chicago’s Republic
Windows & Doors factory operating. The bosses, who knew what
was coming, had been sneaking machinery out in the middle of the
night. They closed the factory and sent the workers home. Then
something surprising happened: Republic’s workers occupied the
factory and refused to leave.
Kari Lydersen, an award-winning Washington Post reporter, tells
the story of the factory takeover, elegantly transforming the
workers’ story into a parable of labor activism for the 21st
century, one that concludes with a surprising and little-reported
victory.