Laid Off Workers Occupying Chicago Factory Win Big Round Against Bank Of America

CHICAGO — The creditor of a Chicago plant where laid-off employees are conducting a sit-in to demand severance pay said Tuesday it would extend loans to the factory so it could resolve the dispute, but the workers declared their protest unfinished.
A resolution seemed nearer as Bank of America, which yanked the plant's financing last week, announced it sent a letter to Republic Windows and Doors offering "a limited amount of additional loans" to resolve its employee claims.
About 200 of the 240 laid-off workers had responded to their three days' notice of the plant closing by staging a sit-in and vowing to stay put until assurances they would get severance and accrued vacation pay.
Their protest has come to symbolize the plight of laid-off workers around the nation as the economy crumbles.
Lawmakers in Illinois have singled out Bank of America for criticism, blasting the Charlotte, N.C.-based company for cutting off the plant's credit after the bank itself received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package.
Word of Bank of America's loan offer came as the bank, union representatives and Republic held talks in Chicago on the fifth day of the sit-in.