[lbo-talk] more on Republic (Darren Hutchinson)

[shag carpet bomb]

<quote>
As I have stated before, the most troubling aspect of this situation is 
that progressive advocacy has permitted Republic Windows and Doors to 
discard its workers, restart its operations in another state, and escape 
any bad press or liability. But the company is the most culpable (probably 
the only culpable) party involved in this scenario. If the company can 
afford to restart its operations in Iowa, then it could have delayed that 
move and paid its workers the wages and benefits to which state and federal 
law entitled them. By ignoring the employer, however, progressives helped 
direct public scrutiny away from the only party that violated the rights of 
workers.

According to scattered reports, the owners of the company seem well 
connected to the "Chicago machine." Mayor Daley helped them secure nearly 
$10 million dollars from the city to build a new factory, and his brother, 
who chairs JP Morgan Midwest, helped secure $400,000 in loans to pay the 
workers. Progressives could have pressured these known contacts to persuade 
the company to pay its workers. In other words, powerful officials 
connected to Republic Windows and Doors could have urged its managers to 
obey the law.

Instead, progressives cheered as recently indicted Governor Blagojevich 
made a rash, unfair -- and probably illegal -- decision to ban Bank of 
America from transacting business with the State of Illinois. If this is 
how a progressive victory looks, then I can do without it.
http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-progressives-should-have-done-for.html

"let's be civil and nice, but not to the point of obeying the rules of 
debate as defined by liberal blackmail (in which, discomfort caused by a 
challenge is seen as some vague form of harassment)."

                                    -- Dwayne Monroe, 11/19/08

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