HartMax, Maker of Obama's Inauguration Suit Files for Bankruptcy...Unions Fight!

[KoKo]

This year saw a lot of economic upheaval and at least in the beginning, some militant labor action that the U.S. has grown unused to. Back in May, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis appeared on GRITtv along with labor activists from around the country to ask the all-important question: Why can’t we fire the boss? We wrote then:

Just last week Hartmarx, a Chicago company in the business of making business suits, including the one Barack Obama wore at his inauguration, filed for bankruptcy. Wells Fargo, its biggest creditor and a recipient of $25 billion in bailout funds, wants to liquidate the company. But Hartmarx workers have said no. On Monday they voted to occupy the Chicago factory if the bank goes ahead with liquidation. That’s just one of the many stories from around the world—from France, Poland, Canada, the UK, and Argentina—of workers taking direct action to save their jobs and rebuild the economy.

Why can’t we fire the boss? It’s a question Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis explored when they made their film, The Take, about Argentina’s movement of worker-run businesses. The idea may be catching on and last week we sat down with the filmmakers and with workers and organizers from Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago to talk about how direct action campaigns have fared.

Then an update on the Hartmarx campaign with Ruby Sims, President of Workers United Local 39C in Chicago and Joe Costigan Treasurer of Workers United Chicago Region. Finally, speaking of life and labor in precarious times, Andrew Ross, the author of Nice Work if You Can Get It joins us in our studio.

WORTH A WATCH:

http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/