Senator Dick Durbin celebrates the reopening of a Chicago window factory shuttered by Republic, now revived by Serious Materials with stimulus funding. The plant rehired Frank Edwards as production manager after months out of work. Durbin says energy-efficient windows made here could retrofit Willis Tower.
Thank you.
Thank you, Senator Burris, the junior senator from Illinois and one of the key votes for passing the stimulus package. Thank you, Senator Burris. Vice President Biden, we're glad to have you in Chicago any day, but we're especially glad to have you here today. And our great mayor, Mayor Rich Daley, said it best: This is an amazing story. This is a miracle. Those of us who were here in December remember what it was like. Just a few feet away over here, hundreds of workers who had lost their jobs were standing around, didn't know which way to turn. They brought in covered dishes. They brought in some food. They were trying their best to get this plant reopened. There were people here at the time— Alderman Rick Munoz was here, Alderman Manny Flores. I want to acknowledge Attorney General Lisa Madigan and my colleagues Debbie Halverson and the newest congressman, Mike Quigley. Everybody was looking for a solution. How are we going to save this plant? They're making products which America needs. Certainly we know that we need energy-efficient windows and doors, but Republic not only closed this plant, not only pulled the rug out from under these workers with 3 days' notice, then went about plundering this plant, ripping the guts out of the equipment so that it couldn't be reopened. That's a true story. And it's a sad story. It could have ended right there, but it didn't. Serious Materials in California stepped up. And Kevin Surace, thank you for doing that. Thank you for having confidence in this plant. And the reason— the reason that Kevin stepped up, I asked him earlier, was because of what was happening in Washington. We were passing a stimulus bill, the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act, under the leadership of President Obama and Vice President Biden, which basically said we're going to put America back to work in the right jobs for our future— jobs that will conserve energy. So the windows that are being made here are the best— the best in the world— right here in Chicago. Is there a place to use them? Well, let me give you one example. We knew something called Sears Tower in days gone by. Now called Willis Tower, has 16,000 single-pane windows— 16,000. I'd like to see the Willis Tower with new energy-efficient windows made right here in Chicago. How about that for some jobs? And that's just the beginning. But Kevin told me the key to it was not only what we did in Washington, But what he saw when he came and took a look at this plant— he saw those workers, many of them standing right over here, who wouldn't quit and they wouldn't give up. When the President created the stimulus package, he told America we want to save or create 3 million jobs— maybe 4 million if we're lucky. I want to introduce you to one of those jobs that's been saved because of that stimulus package and because of the leadership of Kevin Surace and Serious Materials. I'm going to introduce you to a man who worked here for 13 years and had the rug pulled out from under him. He was told it was all over. He went home and started drawing unemployment. For several months, he didn't know where to turn. But he got a call just a few weeks ago: Come on back to work. We want you to be the production manager. Now he's here in this facility. He's about to introduce the Vice President of the United States of America. Because the workers never gave up on the dream. The city never gave up on the dream. President Obama and Vice President Biden didn't give up on the dream. And Kevin Surace was here to make it a reality. Welcome this new worker, this man who benefited from that kind of leadership— Frank Edwards.
Thank you.
