Quad City Die Casting Workers Losing Jobs Today As Wells Fargo Refuses To Pay Owed Wages And Benefit

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/11887

By Doug Cunningham

A hundred Quad City Die Casting workers in Illinois are losing their jobs today, after Wells Fargo Bank refused to continue financing the company. UE’s Leah Fried says according to the National Labor Relations Board, the bank owes the workers about $200,000 in pay and benefits, which it’s refusing to pay.

: "So, you know, there's really no justification legal or moral for what they're doing."

UE says it won’t give up until the workers are paid.

[MineralMan]

1. This is a little confusing, frankly...

How does the bank owe the employees? Isn't it the company that employs them that owes them their wages, etc?

Or, does the bank now own the company?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. I'm with you

The bank officers have a fiduciary duty NOT to fund loans that they believe will not be repaid. Acceptance of TARP funds does not relieve a bank of that obligation.

[Omaha Steve]

2. I found this...

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/4827/workers_take_fight_to_wells_fargo_but_police_turn_them_away/

snip:
An excellent article on Alternet by “Working In These Times” blogger Kari Lydersen also gives more backstory to the Quad City struggle and some related actions against Wells Fargo.

Fried said the union has filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board and that the agency has found merit to that charge, which resulted in a formal complaint.

It is not known how Wells Fargo will respond to that complaint and whether it will settle with the workers on some $200,000 in benefits and vacation pay workers claim.

The future of the plant itself is also unknown, but more developments were expected to unfold this week. The UE said the plant could continue to operate if the bank would continue to extend financing until a buyer is found.

“The workers definitely want to keep fighting,” Fried said.

[Craftsman]

3. Does the bank own the company or is it financing the company?

Correct me if I am wrong but if they do not own the company they do not owe the wages the owners do.

[Omaha Steve]

4. It seems the workers want the bank to continue funding the company

Until a buyer comes into the picture.

[Craftsman]

5. But does the bank have a legal duty to do so?

There are enough bad loans on the books already.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Actually they have a duty not to fund loans that there is no reasonable expectation of repayment

- The company is in trouble because it can not make a profit.
- If it can not make a profit, more loans make the situation worse not better
- No one will buy a money losing company except to break up and sell its assets

Welcome to the jungle of the marketplace

[Craftsman]

8. That is what I thought.