Quad City workers fight for owed benefits

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/16299/

Author: Pepe Lozano
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 07/08/09 13:15

Workers in Moline, Ill., filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) July 7 against their employer Quad City Die Casting because the company says Wells Fargo is not approving expenditures to pay for the workers owed benefits.

The company informed the workers, members with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1174, that the bank has refused to approve the money owed to the workers, including vacation pay and a two percent wage increase due to them under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement. Wells Fargo, says the company, has also refused to pay for a floating holiday and has eliminated the workers health insurance coverage. According to management, the bank approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis.

For the last several months, the Quad City workers and their union have been demanding that Wells Fargo save 100 jobs at the Moline, Ill. factory and continue to extend credit to the company, which is slated to close July 12.

Quad City Die Casting is a 60-year-old family-owned business that manufactures precision metal parts. Wells Fargo, a $25 billion recipient of federal bailout money, refuses to extend credit to the company and prefers to liquidate the business.

“Wells Fargo first ends financing, forcing our company to close, and now they won’t pay us what we are owed by law,” said Deb Johann in a recent statement. Johann has worked at Quad City for the last 31 years.

“To us, our vacation, insurance and wages mean everything to our families,” Johann added. “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."

FULL story at link.

And they are correct. It has been reported that there is a buyer in the works, but Wells Fargo now wants to cut benefits to the employees, who will likely be jobless sometime in August. Wells Fargo got bailout money and doesn't want to do anything to help this company? Screw them. We must pressure WF to at least seek a buyer for QC Diecast. Right now, they appear to be doing nothing. For more info, you can go to our hometown newspapers, either www.qctimes.com or www.qconline.com. You will have to search the archives to find stories about Quad Cities Diecast, but the stories are there. Likely stories at wqad.com and kwqc.com as well. Just thought maybe someone would want some local perspective on this story.

johnson controls is closing their plant here and are not transferring jobs. unfortunately for the workers they have no union to protect what little they have left. even worse whiteside,lee,and ogle counties have over 7000 unemployed.