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The day's second economic story was covered by a correspondent on each of the three networks. By itself, the tale of the layoff of 300 workers by the shutdown of Republic Windows & Doors, a construction supply firm wiped out by the real estate slump, should have been confined to the local newscasts in Chicago. Yet the plant's enterprising workers staged a protest that was eyecatching enough--including a giant inflatable rat to signify unionbusting--to attract the national networks. "The sit-in has grabbed the attention of politicians including the President-elect and others who believe it exemplifies an imbalance between a Wall Street that gets government help and a Main Street that gets the shaft," explained CBS' Dean Reynolds. NBC's Kevin Tibbles, too, noted that "the workers holed up inside this factory have become somewhat of a symbol."
ABC's Chris Bury pointed to the halting of Republic Window's line of credit by Bank of America as the final straw leading to the factory's shuttering. The bank, Bury reminded us, had received billions from the Treasury Department's $700bn TARP fund under its part-nationalization. "Union workers believe they are victims of a bungled bailout--that BofA, which received $25bn in that rescue, is what stands between them and their paychecks…The union is quite literally casting the bank as the rat."
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