Site of Union Sit-In to Reopen as Green Company

clipped from www.nytimes.com The 250 workers who staged a December sit-in at a Chicago window factory to protest losing their jobs were celebrating Thursday, after another window manufacturer announced plans to reopen the plant and start hiring back the displaced workers within months. The sale of what had been Republic Windows and Doors to a California company, Serious Materials, for $1.45 million, was completed in bankruptcy court this week, with company officials promising United Electrical Workers Local 1110 to rehire all the laid-off workers at their former rate of pay. “We see this opportunity to expand our operations in direct relation to the stimulus package, which includes the greening of federal buildings and the weatherization assistance program,” said Sandra Vaughan, the chief marketing officer for Serious Materials, which also manufactures energy-efficient windows and building products in Boulder, Colo., and Vandergrift, Pa.

Republicans hoping that Obama will fail are gonna hate this one, since the new owners cite the stimulus as the reason for buying the plant. As failures go, this isn't one.

"They are promising to hire all of us back sooner or later, but they will start with a small crew," said former Republic employee Armando Robles. "Having another company reopen the factory was always our hope when we occupied the factory in December."

"When I got the phone call, I woke up my wife, and we did a little victory dance," said fellow former employee Melvin Maklin. "This is not only a victory for the Republic workers, but for laborers and unions everywhere."

And remember how it was all the union's fault and the company had to move to open a non-union in Iowa plant to stay alive?

Yeah, that plant closed. So much for that argument.