The Republic Windows and Doors factory occupation

Workers owed unpaid wages and benefits from Republic Windows and Doors have seized its physical plant as a forfeitable asset of the deadbeat company.

There is no problem with this under an honest application of libertarian property rights theory. You will notice several libertarians denouncing the occupation as a violation of the property rights of the company, though, while conveniently neglecting the issue of the property rights of the unpaid workers. They do this because there is an economic incentive to misapply libertarian theory in ways that suit ones donors in the non-profit world. The resulting attitudes then leach out into the broader movement, getting adopted for reasons of tribalism and unthinking social conformity even by those who have no such economic incentive.

That’s all that’s going on here.

UPDATE: My choice of words was influenced by a more recent story I neglected to include a link to…

Republic Sit-In: Leaders Vow To Never Give Up

Pertinent material from same…

Hundreds of employees have occupied the Republic Windows & Doors factory since last Friday when the company shut down. Their plight to win severance and vacation pay owed to them made them a national symbol of the economy.

And…

The laid-off workers continue to guard the assets inside their Goose Island plant in around the clock shifts to make sure the items are not removed. They say the remaining doors, windows, and machinery are the only collateral they have left in their fight to get what they feel they are owed.