Welcome to another episode of The Vast Majority. I'm Jackman Deputy Editor Micah Utrich.

In 2008, a kind of remarkable, miraculous, unexpected thing happened in the Goose Island

section of the city of Chicago.

A bunch of manufacturing workers at a Windows and Doors factory called Republic Windows and

doors decided to engage in an old-fashioned sit-down strike in protest of the imminent closure of their and fire around much of the country, the importance of this event happening at a time after the

financial crisis had really kicked off right after the election of Barack Obama, and it was an amazing thing to witness but unfortunately it

did not become a kind of flashpoint moment that signified a turning point in the fortunes of the American labor movement or in just

working class militancy generally.

But it did play a key role in sparking that kind of militancy in the city of Chicago where it happened,

as my guest today Alex Han argues. And he wants to talk about this history not just because it's

interesting in its own right, but also because we are in a situation in

2020 that is similar to 2008 in terms of widespread misery around the country, a declining

sense of legitimacy of the status quo in this country and something that is different from 2008 is that we

have a rising sense of militancy among key sectors of the working class as well as a rising left in this country.

So it begs the question if you're a Chicagoan who was around 2008 Republic Windows and Doors occupation, what will be, if any, the

Republic Windows and Doors occupation of 2020 and just as importantly will such an action whether it's an occupation

of a plant for some kind of mass strike or any other kind of active working-class

militancy will that incident serve as a spark that lights of fire in the

American working class? Alex Han argues that it could and that we should be on the watch for such an act.

Alex is a long-time labor organizer in Chicago.

He's a former executive vice president of SEIU Health Care, Illinois, Indiana.

He was also the Midwest political director for the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign.

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