Legal Commentary

Because I'm an idiot, I inadvertently deleted my previous blog post here about the sit-down strike at Republic Windows iand Doors in Chicago.  Fortunately, events give me a chance to update the story.

Jobs With Justice has the following report.

Workers at Republic Window and Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late last night. 

The settlement totals $1.75million. It will provide the workers with:

• Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act;
• Two months of continued health coverage, and;
• Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.

JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America. Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them. In addition, the UE has started the "Window of Opportunity Fund" dedicated to re-opening the plant.

As the Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, "We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won."

It's also worth quoting labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein.  In a good editorial comparing and contrasting this action with the sit-down strikes during the New Deal, he writes in part:

Factory occupations are rare because they violate the everyday laws of property, and for the most part American workers are law-abiding people.

They occur only when workers feel morally aggrieved, when they sense that ownership has itself violated the law, when the boss has become the outlaw in their eyes and in that of the community as well.