On Monday night, labor leaders, organizers, and workers from the closed plant gathered on Chicago's West Side to celebrate the success of the Republic Windows sit-in last week. In the Teamsters auditorium on Ashland and Van Buren, the crowd of supporters ate tamales, watched a slideshow, sang several rousing anthems, and listened to brief speeches from a variety of prominent supporters in the labor community, as well as some of the former Republic Windows employees. The video below includes several excerpts from the program:
The Chicago Interfaith Committee On Workers Issues organized the event, with the proceeds benefiting the laid-off Republic workers.
For more on the Republic Windows saga, be sure to check out Kari Lydersen's "Live Book" project on the Melville House Publishing website. And if you're late to the issue and looking for a recap, the Community Media Workshop's Curtis Black has put together a useful overview. Finally, you can review our full coverage here.
UPDATE: Also check out Chip Mitchell's WBEZ report on the longstanding racial divide among the Republic workers and how the sit-in "all but erased the black-brown tensions."
UPDATE II: BuzzFlash.com has given its recurring "Wings of Justice" award to the Republic Windows workers. Check out their write-up here.
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