Parties to meet over Chicago factory sit-in

CHICAGO -- Apolinar Cabrera spent Sunday holed up inside the Republic Windows & Doors factory, joining a protest by dozens of workers angered by the abrupt closure of the plant Friday that left hundreds without jobs, severance pay or health insurance.

"We're going to stay here as long as it takes," says Cabrera, 44, who has worked at the plant for 17 years. "I'm going to receive my money that I earned. There's nothing that I want to take out of their (the company's) pocket. I want what I earned."

The Republic window plant protest is one of the first such actions by workers in the current recession, which the Labor Department said last week has resulted in the loss of 1.9 million jobs since last December.

President-elect Barack Obama, commenting on the Republic protest Sunday, said it's important to rebuild the nation's financial system but also to ensure "the plans and programs we design aren't just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks but are designed to also get money out the door to help people on Main Street."

With three days' notice, owners of the window factory told about 300 workers last week that the plant would close, blaming a loss of credit with Bank of America, says Mark Meinster, international representative of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

He says Republic should have given workers 60 days' notice under a federal law called the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). The law, however, allows some exceptions to the 60-day rule, including one for "faltering companies" that may fear that a layoff notice could affect their chances of getting capital or new business.

"What's happening here is indicative of what's happening all across the economy," Meinster says. "The difference here is that workers decided to do something about it."

Union officials, representatives of the Bank of America and the owners of Republic have agreed to meet today, says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. Amy Zimmerman, a Republic spokeswoman, said Sunday night that the company would not comment until after the meeting.