Here's the article from the Chicago Tribune as well as links to other reports
that corraborate the same info.
Here's an article from teh Chicago Tribune, as well as links to other reports
that corraborate the same info, Republic owners started a new company to
operate in Iowa.
Dulce M Mora
LINKS:
Chicago Tribune
Door and Window Manufacturer Magazine
Memo: Echo buys Traco
Community Organizer Blog
Employees stage sit-in after sudden closing
By Jeff Long and Deanese Williams-Harris
Tribune reporters
December 8, 2008
People who apparently have ties to the financially strapped Republic Windows
formed a limited liability corporation in Illinois last month, Echo Windows &
Doors, that has bought a similar plant in western Iowa.
Sharon Gillman, who shares an address with Republic President and CEO Rich
Gillman, is listed as an officer of Echo Windows & Doors LLC, which was
incorporated in Illinois on Nov. 18, according to secretary of state records.
Neither she nor Rich Gillman could be reached for comment on Sunday. A
secretary who answered the phone at the Iowa plant purchased by Echo said Rich
Gillman was not in on Sunday, and that she did not know when he would be in.
An "echowindows.com" Internet domain has been registered, but no content has
been placed on the site. The administrative contact on the domain registration
is Amy Zimmerman—the same name as the vice president of sales and marketing at
Republic.
Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but said last week that,
"Banks are in the business to make money and at some point they have to make a
business decision and that's what this is."
"Certainly the new construction segment didn't help," Zimmerman said on
Wednesday. "If the bank saw some type of light at the end of the tunnel, maybe
the bank would have extended a line of credit to Republic."
Several picket signs filled the foyer of the company, and ex-employees stood in
huddles discussing a meeting between Bank of America and workers scheduled for
Monday afternoon. "Bank of America, don't steal Christmas," said a sign on the
wall.
"They expect us to just walk out with our heads down and do nothing," said
9-year employee Donald White. "We're going to stay here until we get the
justice we deserve."
Apolinar Cabrera, who has worked at the company for 17 years, said the layoffs
came as a surprise. His wife is due to deliver a baby in three weeks, and
without health insurance, he said he doesn't know how they will afford to pay
the bill.
"I'm in shock. I'm sad. I'm angry," Cabrera said. "I never imagined that after
being open 45 years this business would close. All I want is what I worked for.
I want my money."
On Sunday night, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan said her office plans to investigate
the sudden closing of Republic Windows & Doors Inc. The move came after the
office received requests for help from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers union, Madigan said in a statement.
Local politicians eager to burnish their pro-labor records scurried Sunday to
draft measures that would punish Bank of America, which said in a statement on
Saturday that it isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its
employees.
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D- Chicago) said he would introduce a
proposal Monday to cut all business ties between county government and Bank of
America. "They've done wrong by the community and by a county that has done
well by them," he said of Bank of America.
Echo Windows officials told employees at the former TRACO manufacturing plant
in Red Oak, Iowa, on Thursday that the workforce would be doubled from the
current 50 employees because they have production orders lined up.
Tribune reporters John McCormick and Dan Mihalopoulos contributed to this
report.
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