The story of Republic Window and Doors started quietly on Tuesday, December 2, when Bank of America informed the Chicago manufacturer that it had canceled their $5 million line of credit. Then came the rumble. Republic's executives, in turn, announced that their company would be shutting down and gave their 250-plus workers 72 hours to leave their jobs. In the days since, the story has built to a roar, with employees deciding on December 5 to stage an ongoing sit-in in the factory. Since then, the story has captured the nation's attention and grown to symbolize our economy and government's skewed values -- which leads the financial industry to benefit from an enormous taxpayer-funded bailout while laid-off workers can't even get the compensation afforded to them by law.
Read Progress Illinois' ongoing coverage of the Republic Windows story here.
Image by Flickr user ueunion.
