Thursday, September 20, 2012

Workers want a visit from Romney as Bain ships their jobs to China



Democracy Now posts longer, more recent videos about workers at Bain-owned Sensata here. The workers are watching as their plant is dismantled and shipped to China. Bain, of course, was founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Democracy Now reports,
"Welcome to Bainport, a taste of the Romney economy." That’s the message on one of the banners that greets you at the tent city where we broadcast from in Freeport, Illinois. "Bainport" is an encampment set up by workers who face losing their livelihoods when their workplace closes its doors in November and moves to China, taking 170 jobs with it. The workers’ plant, Sensata Technologies, is owned by Bain Capital, the firm co-founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Democracy Now! first spoke to the Sensata workers when we met them at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, where they unsuccessfully tried to meet with Romney. Now, they have returned to Freeport and set up a protest camp in a bid to save their jobs.
Now we don't think Romney will go to Bainport. Not after Rep. Bobby Schilling fled from Sensata workers rather than tell them he opposed the "Bring Jobs Home Act." Here's the video:



Progress Illinois reported on Wednesday:
At a town hall meeting yesterday, Schilling couldn't take the heat when Sensata workers showed up to discuss the issue, so he ran out of the kitchen — or in this case the meeting.
When Tom Gaulrapp, one of the workers set to lose his job after working at the Bain Capital-owned company for 33 years, asked Schilling if he would support a bill that would offer companies tax incentives for bringing overseas jobs back to the U.S. and also close loopholes that allow corporations to ship American jobs overseas, like the Bring American Jobs Home Act, Schilling refused to answer and walked out of the meeting. But his campaign manager Terry Schilling essentially answered the question for the congressman by saying, "He said no. He does not support the bill."