Can you imagine any recent president, Democrat or Republican, saying what Obama has just said about the laid-off workers who are staging a sit-in at a shuttered Chicago factory?

“The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they’re absolutely right and understand that what’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy,” Obama said.

The workers are asking, mainly, for the severance and vacation pay that they’re owed—and they’re amazed by the national attention.

“We never expected this,” said Melvin Maclin, a factory employee and vice president of the local union that represents the workers. “We expected to go to jail.”

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

6 replies on “Elections Have Consequences”

  1. They’re illegals. They busted a union and fired all the old workers and hired almost all illegals. They should have seen it coming, but they care about union workers as much as they care about learning the language.

  4. @1 Whoa, I see absolutely nothing in the article that backs up your assertions (but I do see a few things that refute them). Cite me some sources or keep your rage against the brown people to yourself.

  5. No shit, Dan. Seeing this was shocking, like hearing about something from a foreign culture. It’s been so long since I heard a prominent politician support a labor movement instead of blaming forces greater than himself, “Oh, it’s globalization,” or the workers themselves, that it took me a minute to realize what a shithole we’ve lived in for eight years.

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