Wells Fargo wants to rescind the line of credit to the 60-year old family-owned company. Since Wells Fargo is the company's primary creditor, this will clear the way for the bank to liquidate Quad City Die Casting's assets, kicking 100 unionized workers out on the street. This is despite the fact that Wells Fargo got $25 billion from taxpayers last fall, supposedly to keep viable companies such as Quad City Die Casting afloat in the current down economy.

Said protester Pat Catolico, “Wells Fargo is behaving terribly to working people in this country, and I'm glad to be here to inform folks about it.” The reaction from passersby from all kinds of walks of life was overwhelmingly positive and lots of fruitful discussions took place. Even several bank workers made a point to come down and greet the protesters and tell them they were right to call out Wells Fargo for its hypocrisy and greed in the matter.

Protests have erupted across the country condemning the bank's double dealing with the Quad City workers. Earlier, Wells Fargo sought to do the same thing with the nearly 4000 workers of the Hartmarx company in Des Plaines Illinois, before backing down in the face of withering criticism from that company's workers and their supporters.

Wells Fargo has come under intense criticism lately from various quarters. It is being sued by the city of Baltimore for its predatory lending practices to minority communities, which is one of the central causes of the current recession. In California, there have been protests in the Chicano community against the bank for its ties to the GEO group, which runs private prisons and detention facilities for immigrants. Wells Fargo is also complicating California's budget crisis by refusing to honor the IOU's the state is issuing to its contractors.

#SanFranciscoCA #QuadCityDieCasting #WellsFargo

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution supporting the Quad City Die Casting workers. The resolution was passed by the July 11-12 National Convention of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

The 2009 SDS National Convention Stands in Solidarity with Quad City Die Casting Workers

The students and youth of SDS stand in solidarity with the union workers of UE Local 1174 in their fight to keep Quad City Die Casting open. We condemn the Wells Fargo bank for refusing to finance the factory in Moline, Illinois. This outrage comes after Wells Fargo received $25 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money in a bailout earlier this year. Wells Fargo is sitting on the money. So now a locally owned factory employing over a hundred workers is being forced to shut their doors. However, the union workers are fighting to save their jobs!

SDS is joining with the demand of the UE workers that Wells Fargo finance the company so they keep their jobs. Like the Republic Window and Door workers in Chicago this past December, it is unacceptable that a huge bank receives billions in bailout funds yet hangs the workers out to dry. Wells Fargo received $25 billion dollars from the recent bailout.

We are calling on all students and youth to hold protests at their local Wells Fargo banks and to express solidarity with the workers in Moline. Support the Quad City workers and their jobs! Pressure Wells Fargo to extend a line of credit to the Quad City Die Casting factory.

Further, we are asking students to go to the factory in Moline, Illinois and stand with the workers while they are fighting for their jobs.

Make the rich pay! Keep Quad City Die Casting open!

#MurfreesboroTN #Labor #News #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #QuadCityDieCasting

Rock Island, IL – “Wells Fargo, shame on you!” chanted the crowd of over 125 as eleven brave protesters blocked the road outside Wells Fargo here, July 9.

Protesters arrived with UE Local 1174 to deliver the message that Wells Fargo bank, a $25-billion bailout recipient, has become a roadblock to recovery after cutting off credit to Quad City Die Casting, a factory of 100 workers.

Lorey Butler, a machine operator at Quad City Die Casting, was one of the eleven road-blockers, all of whom were arrested and charged for their act of civil disobedience. Upon returning from arrest, Butler said, “I'm glad I did this. We're not gonna give up what we deserve.”

People from around the Midwest came to the scene to show solidarity with the UE Local 1174 workers, including members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout,  Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society and Chicago trade unionists.

#MolineIL #CapitalismAndEconomy #News #QuadCityDieCasting #WellsFargo