U.S. & World

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has ordered all state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America to pressure the bank into helping protesting workers at a shuttered Chicago plant.

The move is leverage to try to convince the North Carolina-based bank to use some of its federal bailout money to resolve a sit-in at Republic Windows and Doors.

The company closed last week with just a few days' notice and about 200 workers want their severance and vacation pay.

According to workers, the company can't pay them because their creditor, Bank of America, won't let them. The company told the union that Bank of America has canceled its financing.

The bank had said in a statement that it wasn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

About 200 workers who lost their jobs last week with little notice have been occupying the plant around-the-clock in eight-hour shifts, said Fried said. About 60 were inside early Monday.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez said Monday's meeting would address the workers' concerns.

Company officials have not commented since the sit-in began Friday, and have not responded to calls and e-mails. Gutierrez said company officials had signed a waiver permitting the opening of its financial records at the meeting.

Republic Windows and Doors told the workers on Dec. 2 that they would be out of work by the end of the week.

Fried said the company told the union that Bank of America had canceled its financing. The bank had said in a statement that it wasn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

The announcement of the meeting Monday comes after a wave of publicity about the sit-in and support from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Obama, who said Sunday the company should honor its commitments to the workers.

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

One of the workers, Silvia Mazon, said in Spanish that she needs the money owed to her for an $1,800 monthly house payment. The 40-year-old Cicero resident said she has enough money saved to survive for one month.

"We're making history," she said.

"The reason they're here is they've got nothing left to lose," organizer Leah Fried of United Electrical Workers told CBS' The Early Show. "They were told on Tuesday of last week they were out of a job on Friday and penniless on the street.

"People have been very strong, very united and they're not going anywhere until they win justice."

Bank of America (as Republic's creditor) now owns the company's assets. That, says Fried, makes them responsible. "These workers are owed their vacation pay and if this factory continues to stay closed, then they're owed 60 days' pay under the WARN Act."

Fried says Bank of America - which recently received $25 billion from the government financial firm bailout - should be held responsible. "I think we need to hold them accountable for what they do to our economy and whether or not they are investing in jobs, whether or not they're keeping people employed."

That is not right to throw people out on the street with nothing," she said.

Fried said the laid-off employees are simply protecting the products of their labor. "There are hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of windows in this company which are ready to be delivered [that] these workers worked to manufacture, [and] they're not getting paid," Fried told Rodriguez. "All they're simply doing is placing a lien for their work and saying let's respect the law.

"They worked real hard," she said. "We have workers here 34 years. They made this company the success that it is. And on the eve of Christmas, they shouldn't simply be thrown out on the street. And if the federal government can't intervene to protect these workers, then I think we're failing in our main obligation."

And how long will they stay at the plant? "As long as it takes," Fried said. "They're not giving up. They are incredibly strong and united."

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has organized a meeting between representatives of the union, Republic and Bank of America for 4 p.m. this afternoon. "We want to end the finger-pointing," he told The Early Show. "Whether it's the company or Bank of America, let's open up the books. The company has agreed to come and sign a release, a waiver, so we can look at the books and see where the money is at.

"Look, you guys are reporting on what we did for the financial industry," he said. "$700 billion, another $15 billion or $20 billion for the automobile industry. Who is standing up for workers? We think the federal government has to make sure that the WARN Act, which says that these workers are due 60 days of pay and health benefits, has to be enforced. Let's make sure the federal government does its job with these workers, not with just those on Wall Street.

"This is Main Street here."

On Sunday The Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered about 300 turkeys and food donations, pledging the support of his Chicago-based civil rights group, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

"These workers deserve their wages, deserve fair notice, deserve health security," Jackson said. "This may be the beginning of long struggle of worker resistance, finally."

President-elect Barack Obama, weighing in on behalf of the workers, told a news conference Sunday that Republic Windows and Doors should follow through on its commitments to the employees.

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

One of the factory's workers, Silvia Mazon, said in Spanish that she needs the money owed to her for an $1,800 monthly house payment. The 40-year-old from Cicero said she has enough money saved to survive for one month.

"We're making history," she said.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, called it the start of a movement. "This story has resonated around the world," she said.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)