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Negotiations have resumed in the dispute between Republic Windows & Doors and the employees it laid off last Friday when it closed its Goose Island plant.
On their way into the 1 p.m. negotiating session, during a noontime rally outside of the Bank of America Building, at 231 S. LaSalle St., union negotiators said they were optimistic, but United Electric Workers organizing director Bob Kingsley said it is far premature to say a deal is at hand.
"That is not an accurate description of where things stand," Kingsley said. "There has been important progress made but we have a way to go, a way to go to reach an agreement."
JP Morgan Chase, whose subsidiary owns 40 percent of Republic, on Wednesday morning pledged $400,000 in capital to be used for the benefit of the plant's workers, according to U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, (D-Ill.), who is involved in negotiating with Republic workers who are in the sixth day of their sit-in protest.
Also, Chase Midwest Chairman William M. Daley, brother of Mayor Richard Daley, has joined the negotiations to resolve the protest, Gutierrez said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
"Chase's infusion of necessary capital will be allocated directly to the workers to pay for the compensation and benefits that they are rightfully owed," Gutierrez said. "This money is not, under any circumstances, to be used for corporate bonuses, luxury cars or any other perk for the owners of the plant.
"These negotiations are about salvaging the Christmas these hardworking families deserve," Gutierrez said.
On Tuesday, Bank of America, which claimed Republic maxed out its bank loan and which Republic said refused to loan money initially for the workers' vacation pay, said it would provide a "limited amount" of additional loans to Republic to help resolve the employee sit-in at the Goose Island factory.
Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, said the workers are due $3,500 to $4,000 each in severance alone. The total cost of vacation and severance owed is $1.5 million. Union officials have said that the workers want only what state law requires -- 75 days of severance and health benefits, plus accrued vacation time.
The union represents 235 workers at Republic. Nearly three times that many people turned out for the protest, at which Kingsley noted messages of support from the labor federations of France, Japan and Mexico..
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