Progress Illinois

As the Republic Windows sit-in grabbed the nation's attention early last week, the Chi-Town Daily News discovered that the Republic owners had purchased a window factory in Red Oak, Iowa at the same time that they decided to abruptly shutter the Chicago plant.  Since then, Republic's financial backers -- Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase -- agreed to settle the dispute and the sit-in ended.  But the ordeal is fresh in the minds of some Iowa labor leaders, according to the Midland News Service:

Last Friday, window plant employees in this southwest Iowa town awoke to the promise of more hours, more work and maybe even more jobs under a new Chicago owner. [...]

But in Red Oak, local leaders and workers wonder if the troubles of Republic Windows could spill over from Chicago.

"It's a little uneasy,'' said Brad Wright, Red Oak city administrator. [...]

Local workers are right to be concerned in light of the recent turmoil in Chicago and the poor state of the economy, said Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor.

"In this economic situation that we're in, it's pretty disturbing to see all the workers who are getting jettisoned to make sure companies stay afloat,'' Sagar said. "Our concern would be to see Iowa workers in the southwest corner of the state getting treated like the ones in Chicago.''

It will be interesting to see if there are attempts to unionize the Iowa workers in the coming months.