Justice Follows Direct Action
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3983
Justice Follows Direct Action: Former Boss of Occupied Chicago Factory
Jailed
September, 15 2009
By Dangl, Ben
Richard Gillman, the former CEO of Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors
factory where over 200 workers organized a victorious sit-in last year,
has been sent to jail on eight charges including felony, theft, fraud,
and money laundering. After the judge announced the $10 million bail,
the shocked and dazed Gillman, dressed in a pin-striped suit, was hauled
away to the county jail.
Republic workers captured the attention of the world when they occupied
their plant on December 5, 2008 calling for the severance and vacation
pay they were due. The sit-in ended six days later when the Bank of
America and other lenders to Republic agreed to pay the workers the
approximately $2 million owed to them. Recently, the workers won another
victory with the arrest of Gillman.
The prosecutors charge that Gillman defrauded creditors of over $10
million, and then went ahead to use company money to complete payments
on leases for two luxury cars - while his employees went without pay.
According to court records Gillman also secretly sent three
semi-trailers full of equipment from the Republic factory to a
non-unionized factory in Iowa without the consent of Republic board
members and creditors. Luckily, however, the organized Republic workers
followed the trailers, and during the occupation, prevented executives
from entering the factory to take company documents that now make up
much of the case against Gillman and other Republic officials.
"Gillman and others knew this company was headed for closure," Anita
Alvarez, the Cook County state's attorney, told reporters. "And instead
of fulfilling their legal obligations to their creditors and their moral
obligations to their employees, they devised a scheme to benefit
themselves."
"We knew Gillman was lying to us for a long time, now the rest of the
world knows it too," said Armando Robles, the President of UE Local
1110, the Republic workers' union. "Workers suffer with bad bosses all
the time so this is a victory for all workers."
Gillman's arrest is just one of the results of the Republic workers'
actions. In February of this year, Serious Materials ended up buying up
Republic for $145 million, promising to put the unemployed workers back
on the job. The California-based Serious makes heating efficient windows.
"Having another company reopen the factory was always our hope when we
occupied the factory in December," Robles told the New York Times.
Kevin Surace, the chief executive officer of Serious, was drawn to the
Republic workers' story, leading him to eventually acquire the bankrupt
factory. "It was very sad to see what looks like it could be a
world-class operation just fall on terrible hard times and then all of
the workers quite abruptly laid off," he said. "We saw a great
opportunity with a great facility and great workers." Another thing that
attracted Surace to the Republic plant was that 90% of the equipment was
still there - thanks to the workers who prevented the bosses from
hauling it away.
However, only fifteen former Republic employees have been rehired so
far. According to Chicago-based journalist Kari Lydersen of In These
Times, the delay in hiring more workers could have to do with the fact
that Obama's federal stimulus for green jobs and heating efficient
windows has been slower in producing results than people had hoped. Yet
Lydersen points out that the Republic workers "know they can't just sit
back and wait for the stimulus or the factory's new owner to make
everything all right."
Meanwhile, Gillman is facing justice thanks to the workers' actions.
Melvin Maclin, a former Republic worker who is currently unemployed and
the father of six children, commented on Gillman's arrest in a UE
statement, "We feel like justice has finally come and we all hope that
this is the beginning of more bosses being held accountable for their
crimes against workers."
Benjamin Dangl is the author of the forthcoming book, Dancing with
Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America, (AK Press,
2010). He edits TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world
events. Email Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
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"From the point of view of the defense of our society,
there only exists one danger -- that workers succeed in
speaking to each other about their condition and their
aspirations _without intermediaries_."
--Censor (Gianfranco Sanguinetti), _The Real Report on
the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy_