Quad City Die Casting, a sixty year old locally-owned manufacturer of metal die-cast products (whose clientele includes anyone involved in metal farm equipment parts to Kawasaki Motors’ parts), laid off and locked out 100 employees last summer on July 26th, 2008. Local 1174, made up of electrical, radio and machine workers, requested a conference with the company to start negotiations in an attempt to save the workers from unemployment with demands that Wells Fargo extend the credit that Quad City Die Casting relies so heavily upon in order to survive.

Being that this company is so small, it requires day-to-day credit, which Wells Fargo, the 2^nd largest American bank in reference to capital, refuses to extend their credit even after receiving the $25 billion dollar bail out. Just last month, the workers gathered in front of the bank’s corporate office in Iowa to protest the misuse of funds received from the Federal Reserve and to continue the financing to keep Quad City Die Casting Company alive. The bank responded with little concern; moreover, it informed representatives of the Union that it was not the bank’s problem, and that they needed to contact QCDC employers themselves.

Demanding a negotiation of some sort, the company and the Union met in the presence of a federal mediator. Quad City Die Casting refused to shift their interests to that of the workers, and, in fact, is consequently preparing to close the company on July 12, 2009. The QCDC employers did make sure to bring the Union up to date with their modified proposal to increase any penalties and disciplinary measures against employees producing defective products (measured by a product life expectancy: six months).

In the meantime, Tim Curtain, spokesman for United Electrical 1174, and other union members have met with a few Quad City Die Casting customers to inform them that the products they are purchasing will not be produced by workers of QCDC.  Those workers will be fighting for their livelihoods on the picket line; feeling empowered by the Republic Windows and Doors six-day factory occupation led by Chicago UE members last December, Local 1174 members took to the road last week to join other unions, local sympathizers, and, of course, the Chicago UE members at a Chicago rally.

The protest gave hope and strength to the QCDC workers accompanied by advice and open discussions between the various groups present that day. Along with this camaraderie, Hartmarx (a Chicago-based suit company), also being threatened by liquidation (terminating the jobs of over 600 of its employees), is also joining the fight against Wells Fargo.  Unfortunately for Hartmarx employees, Wells Fargo is also not bending for them either, refusing yet again credit to keep their company going.

On June 23rd, the UE called for a national day of action to further the demands of the QCDC workers. In the likeness of the previous rally, multiple unions, sympathizers, and workers united to picket in front of local Wells Fargo and Wachovia branches across the US in twenty different cities from California to Washington D.C. For about the first thirty minutes of each protest, supporters chanted lines such as “you got bailed out, we got sold out” and “when I say bankers you say gangsters.” Radio stations, as well as local television stations, covered almost all of the rallies while leaflets, chants, posters, and signs consumed Wells Fargo branches.  After thirty minutes of demonstrating, delegates for the QCDC workers attempted to enter the banks to deliver a “notice of default” to the banks on behalf of the working class.  Not surprisingly, bank employees either ordered the protesters to leave, threatened to call the police, and/or refused to retrieve the branch manager.

At the demonstration in Georgia, the Atlanta Fighting Foreclosures Coalition not only called on Wells Fargo to give up the bailout funds, but also reminded the bank that they haven’t forgotten the families threatened by foreclosure from Wells Fargo and are calling for reasonable settlements for at-risk Atlantans. Upon hearing of the national demonstration, the Wells Fargo Boston branch supplied the location with security personnel before the rally even started, preventing the delegates from delivering their “plea of justice” statement to bank management.

In Chicago, protestors created a Wells Fargo crime scene at their local branch complete with chalk body outlines of Wells Fargo’s victims on the pavement surrounded with crime-scene tape while shouting “Wells Fargo this sucks, where’s our twenty-five billion bucks?” They also charged Wells Fargo with jobicide and homicide. The protests received much needed support from the public and a fair amount of media coverage at every location; hopefully for the next rally – July 9^th – the same will be said.  UE members and supporters will demonstrate in front of the Rock Island, Illinois Wells Fargo branch at 5 p.m.  This may be the final demonstration before Quad City Die Casting closes its doors for good, unless more directly-active measures by the workers (e.g. a work-place occupation) take place.

During the following days, the lobbying delegates for the UE visited the Senate banking committee and the House of Financial Services Committee along with other multiple congressional offices. The UE attempted to fully inform these committees of Wells Fargo’s crimes but also were requesting that the government intervene. Unfortunately for QCDC employees, a government of the exploiters will never come to the rescue of the working class – it is simply not in its interests. So, as expected, neither committee has made a move to assist the workers; everything remains the same.

Also on Capitol Hill, UE political-action director, Chris Townsend, spoke briefly with Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD) who claimed “everyone is mad at Wells Fargo” – referring to the lawsuit from the city of Baltimore to Wells Fargo for predatory mortgage-lending practices against African-Americans. The lawsuit states that Wells Fargo employees were instructed to pressure African-Americans into sub-prime loans regardless of healthy incomes and credit that more than qualified them for safer prime loans, leading to numerous foreclosures costing Baltimore millions of dollars in taxes and services.

Due to the incredible lack of oversight of the federal bailouts, banks are being salvaged at the high cost of the well being of workers.  While the banks need to be held accountable for the ridiculous sums of funds that have been handed to them from the pockets of the taxpayers, by no means are bailouts a suitable answer to any failing capitalist institutions. The financial dilemmas that these companies and banks are facing are just symptoms of a crisis-prone system that can only be corrected by nationalizing these same institutions under an economy run and planned by the workers. Workers are being forced to carry the financial burdens of their employers by being stripped of their bonuses and raises, a severe reduction in hours (which also leads to lost medical insurance), pay cuts, and layoffs. The capitalists do not have the interests of the workers in mind and they never will – this is inexcusable.

In order to guarantee any advancement over the Quad City Die Casting bosses and Wells Fargo bank, it is crucial for the workers to depend on themselves and each other rather than federal bailouts or even their own union leaders. This brings us to the next problematic situation of abused union leadership roles. To properly prepare the workers for any potentially risky situations that will compromise the progress of the struggle over the employers of QCDC, it is necessary to create an independent strike committee and self-defense organizations to ensure the workers’ demands are fully met with complete protection against police brutality, employer intimidation, and union mis-leadership. With the fragile state of Quad City Die Casting’s situation, it is very possible for the union leaders to manipulate the workers’ demands in order to create a better bargaining position for themselves. These precautions are imperative to the overthrow of any capitalist enterprise – especially Quad City Die Casting.

We support the workers of the Quad City Die Casting Company and Hartmarx in utilizing this plan to fulfill their demands and to also nationalize QCDC under their own control. Solidarity amongst these unions, workers, and sympathizers is vital to the realization of their demands, which, in turn, strengthens the power of the entire working class. We fight for the right of workers to liberate themselves from the restraints of their employers and hope that this situation will help to inspire more workers to demand the same in the future.