In order to dramatize that Wells Fargo is a Roadblock to Recovery

Workers at Quad City Die Casting are in a race to save their jobs, health insurance and benefits. They are prepared to block a road and risk arrest to dramatize that Wells Fargo is acting as a roadblock to economic recovery.

UE, the workers’ union, charges that Wells Fargo is acting as a roadblock to economic recovery by choosing to close and liquidate Quad City Die Casting instead of doing what is necessary to keep the company in business until a sale is finalized. There are currently several interested parties looking to make a bid to purchase the company.

Wells Fargo pulled financing from Quad City Die Casting, forcing the company to announce it would close this summer. Over 100 people stand to lose their jobs, with an economic impact on the Quad Cities of $6.1 million annually in lost wages and tax revenue.

To add insult to injury, Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of pay and benefits owed to workers. According to company management, Wells Fargo approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis.

“Wells Fargo is throwing us out of work and hurting our economy in the process. That’s why we are prepared to get arrested to show the world that this bank is a roadblock to economic recovery. They take our bailout billions, but then won’t keep America working. On top of that they deny us benefits we are legally owed and have earned!” said Keith Schribner, President of UE Local 1174.

UE is the union that occupied Republic Windows and Doors, winning a $1.75 million settlement for the workers in December 2008. Wells Fargo is the bank that had attempted to liquidate Hartmarx and was recently pushed to save those jobs and sell the company.

When: Thursday July 9, 2009 5pm
Where: Wells Fargo Bank, 1800 30thStreet Rock Island, IL
Visual: Workers and supporters blocking a road, rally with picket signs, chants

By Arthur Delaney
arthur@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
07- 7-09 10:10 AM | Updated: 07- 7-09 11:52 AM

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Labor activists are hoping they can do for the 100 employees of the Quad City Die Casting factory in Illinois what they did for workers at Hartmarx Corporation and Republic Windows and Doors: Wring concessions from bailed-out banks by making a ruckus.

The Moline manufacturer of engine parts told its employees that they'll be out of work come July 12. The company is declining to comment to the press, but the union is pointing its finger squarely at Wells Fargo, which it says recently refused to continue extending credit.

"In May Wells Fargo decided to no longer continue financing for the company," said Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE), the union that represents most of the Quad City factory's employees. Fried said that orders for parts had dropped off with the recession and the company will need tens of thousands in financing to continue day to day operations. But, she added, the factory has not lost any of its customers, and orders surged with news that plant would close. She said that Quad City is not in default on any of its loans.

Fried said Wells Fargo is being stingy about extending credit because the bank is eager to improve its capital situation and pay back the $25 billion bailout it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"They want to get out from under the TARP money because they want to get out from the scrutiny," Fried told the Huffington Post. "They're hoarding."

Wells Fargo declined to comment, referring the Huffington Post to a statement it gave the American Banker for a July 2 article titled "Stunts May Be Silly, But They're Serious for Banks."

"We empathize with the employees affected by Quad City Die Casting's decision to close its plant," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Kathryn Ellis said. "We work with our customers who are having financial difficulties as prudently as we can. Our goal is for them to be able to succeed financially and stay in business. We cannot comment further on this particular situation because our customer relationships are confidential."

On Tuesday, the union filed charges against Quad City with the National Labor Relations Board over benefits allegedly owed workers. "The company informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay," said a statement from the union. "In addition, they have refused to comply with a 2% wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement, pay a floating holiday, and they have eliminated health insurance coverage."

The union is planning a protest at a Wells Fargo branch on Thursday, July 9. According to a statement, the event "will dramatize the fact that Wells Fargo is a roadblock to economic recovery with a bold action" in Rock Island, Ill.

As the American Banker article noted, dramatic protests have had serious consequences for banks lately. In December, laid-off UE workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago staged sit-ins that won national attention and got Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to lend money for severance pay.

More recently, the Hartmarx Corporation emerged from bankruptcy with a new owner committed to keeping most of the 4,000 jobs at the Chicago area suit-maker. Wells Fargo, Hartmarx's main creditor, had opposed the sale. Several elected officials denounced the bank and threw their support behind the workers. They were members of the Service Employees International Union, which pressed Wells Fargo to support the deal.

Leah Fried said there are four companies interested in purchasing Quad City Die Casting.

"It's very similar to Hartmarx," Fried said. "The bank needs to do what's best for the community. It's really a question of the bank cooperating with a sale."

Bill Visnic, an engine expert and a senior editor for AutoObserver, told the Huffington Post it's hard to know what's really going on between Quad City and Wells Fargo because so few details about Quad City's financial situation have been made public. But he's siding with the union anyway, citing "bailout fatigue." The $700 billion financial industry rescue, after all, was supposed to get credit flowing to businesses.

"These big banks that got enormous bailouts for just showing up," Visnic said, "and there are these ongoing concerns here that basically sort of need a hand -- they seem to be viable businesses -- and now these very institutions that themselves said they needed these huge fortunes to keep going are strangling these very entities that they're supposed to be helping."

by Adam Doster on July 07, 2009 - 12:26pm
Progress Illinois

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Only five days remain before workers at Quad City Die Casting are scheduled to lose their jobs, and the battle with creditor Wells Fargo continues to brew. Back in May, the bank opted to cut off Quad City's line of credit, endangering the jobs of 100 employees who work at the 60-year-old aluminum manufacturing plant. In the month since, the bank has refused to explain its decision to the workers or to grant extra time for the owners and officials from United Electrical Workers Local 1174 to find another source of financing.

Now the union alleges that Wells is also withholding vacation pay and health insurance benefits from the workforce. A UE press release explains:

UE Local 1174 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board today because workers are being denied their benefits.  The company informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay.  In addition, they have refused to comply with a 2% wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement, pay a floating holiday, and they have eliminated health insurance coverage.

This situation is developing strong similarities to the Republic Windows dispute last December (also led by UE members).  As you may remember, the factory sit-in at the company's Chicago factory came after creditors refused to cover severance and vacation payowed to the works under the WARN Act.  After workers occupied that plant for six days, the banks in question agreed to fork over the $2 million in withheld payments.  In a recent Huffington Post entry, Mike Elk quoted UE political action director Chris Townsend on the effect of that sit-in:

"One of the most interesting things about the Republic Windows occupation is that the banks wanted to settle in as rapid a fashion as possible. Two giant banks -- in one week -- were forced to pay the workers what they were owed to the tune of almost two million dollars. There are lawsuits and legal actions that have been going on for years against banks for similar things that have never been able to achieve those kind of results. These banks don't want to be in the spotlight, they want to hide at all costs. They wanted to settle as quickly in order to stop the movement of this type of direct action from spreading because they know such a movement could crush them."

The Quad City dispute is now in the hands of the NLRB, which will hopefully investigate the allegation promptly.  In the meantime, workers will continue pressuring Wells to help save the factory, pointing out that Moline's local economy will take a significant hit if it closes next week.

Quad City Dispatch Argus
July 7, 2009

UE Local 1174 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board today because it says workers are being denied their benefits.

The company informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay. In addition, they have refused to comply with a 2 percent wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement, pay a floating holiday, and they have eliminated health insurance coverage.

"Wells Fargo first ends financing, forcing our company to close, and now they won"t pay us what we are owed by law. To us, our vacation, insurance and wages mean everything to our families. But to Wells Fargo its pennies, not even a blip in their billions. Yet they choose to cheat us out of what we have earned. And to think we helped them out when they needed it!" said Deb Johann.

According to management, Wells Fargo approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis.

The charges filed today with the NLRB will now be investigated and a determination made if there is merit to the charges. Workers continue to demand that Wells Fargo do what is necessary to keep the company in business until a sale of the company is finalized. There are currently several interested parties looking to make a bid to purchase Quad City Die Casting. Over 100 people stand to lose their jobs if Quad City Die Casting closes. The economic impact on the community would be $6.1million annually in lost wages and tax revenue.

This week, workers at Hartmarx Factory won a major victory against Wells Fargo, as Wells Fargo agreed to keep their factory open. The story of the Hartmarx workers had drawn national attention as they threatened to occupy their factory if Wells Fargo closed it. Their victory yesterday represents a major triumph in the growing trend of factory sit ins that started last December when workers, members of United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) occupied the Republic

Read more on Huffington Post...

AT 5:00 P.M. ON JULY 9 in Rock Island, IL members of UE at Quad City Die Casting, along with labor and community supporters, will dramatize the fact that Wells Fargo is a roadblock to economic recovery with a bold action in front of Wells Fargo at 1800 30th St. in Rock Island. Please attend if you are in the area or can travel to the Quad Cities on that day. For a ride or for more information call 773-405-3022.

Clergy members joined Quad City Die Casting employees in a rally outside the Davenport Wells Fargo office Tuesday to protest the bank's decision to discontinue credit to the 60-year-old Moline company.

Since the company announced it was closing around July 12, putting 100 people out of work, employees have staged several rallies, hoping to save their jobs. They recently rallied outside Wellls Fargo offices in downtown Chicago.

Protest Continues Around The Country
Protestors hit the streets in a dozen cities across the country Tuesday, speaking out against Wells Fargo and trying to save jobs right here in the Quad Cities.

Quad City Die Casting is scheduled to close July 12th which puts more than 100 people out of work.

So local clergy members supported the workers outside the Wells Fargo Bank in Davenport.

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