In Illinois, Another Workers' Rebellion Flares Up Against 'Banksters' Greed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141915/in_illinois,_another_workers%27_rebellion_flares_up_against_%27banksters%27_greed_/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet_workplace

By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet. Posted August 13, 2009.

In Illinois, a dozen union members blocked a road outside Wells Fargo’s local headquarters -- the latest in a wave of direct actions by workers.

Nine months have passed since workers at Republic Windows and Doors occupied their Chicago factory, demanded the severance and vacation pay owed them and ultimately pursuaded Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to put up the funds.

It was heralded as a potential watershed in modern U.S. labor relations, and now is a natural time to ask what fruits that struggle has yielded.

There has not been an onslaught of factory occupations or worker uprisings. But there is at least one ongoing campaign that is inspired by, and in many ways parallel to, the Republic Windows action -- a campaign that's more wide-ranging and ambitious to boot.

That would be the "Roadblock to Recovery" campaign launched by Jobs with Justice and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) union of Republic Windows fame, targeting Wells Fargo bank for failing to extend credit to struggling businesses after receiving federal bailout money.

Like Bank of America, Wells Fargo received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout funds last fall (Bank of America later received an additional $20 billion). Now the Roadblock to Recovery campaign is taking a page from the Republic Windows playbook and demanding Wells Fargo show taxpayers some ground-level results of their investment.

On July 9, a dozen UE workers from the Quad City Die Casting factory in Moline, Ill., blocked a road outside Wells Fargo's local headquarters. About 100 employees in this industrial heartland city along the Mississippi River are likely to lose their jobs this month unless Wells Fargo, the company's major creditor, extends financing until the company can find a buyer. The workers refused to leave the street until they were peacefully arrested and later paid $75 fines.

FULL story at link.