Sensata worker: Go to the polls

Protest outside the Sensata plant in Freeport, Ill. 

This message from Tom Gaulrapp, Sensata factory worker, was posted on the Teamsters Facebook page by Sarah Wagner: 

Today is my last day of work at Sensata Technologies after 33 years on the job, making high-quality, American auto sensors for car companies like Chrysler and GM. 

And tomorrow—Election Day—I'm going to get up, I'm going to go to the polls, and then I will go and sign up for unemployment compensation for the first time in my life. 

On behalf of all of the Sensata workers here in Freeport, Illinois, I wanted to thank you for turning the offshoring of our jobs into a national news story that people are paying attention to. We hope that when people go to the polls tomorrow, they remember what a Romney Economy did to our American dream. 

Find your polling place and let’s go out and vote tomorrow. Even if you know yours, forward this to your friends and family—because that just might be the reason they stay home tomorrow.

http://action.99uniting.org/findpolls/
What we see here in Freeport is the Romney Economy in action, where they outsource good manufacturing jobs to places like China. And all that's left in Freeport are part-time, minimum wage jobs, with no benefits. They’re jobs no family can survive on. Mitt Romney created Bain Capital. He helped pioneer and still profits from the outsourcing of good American jobs to China. It's a business model that puts profits above people -- at all cost to us back home. And it's the approach he would take as CEO of our country.  

We don’t want to be rich. We just want to have a decent house, in a decent neighborhood, and be able to support our families. But instead, we had our American dream ripped out from underneath us for nothing more than an extra buck. 

Forward this link below to your friends and family. Make sure they have a plan to vote tomorrow. Remind them what’s at stake tomorrow for all of America. http://action.99uniting.org/findpolls/ 

Thanks for all that you’ve done, Tom Gaulrapp Sensata Factory Worker

Today's Teamster News 11.03.12

U.S. job growth quickens, giving Obama some relief  Reuters   ...U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October and a small increase in the jobless rate was due to more workers restarting their job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama's re-election bid...
Gas Shortage Lingers, Crippling Aid Organizations And Recovery Effort  Huffington Post   ...Thursday, a deadly cocktail of mass power outages, port closures and skyrocketing demand for fuel shut down gas stations across New York and New Jersey, spurring mile-long lines and fights at the few pumps that remained open. Now, the shortage is crippling aid organizations spearheading relief in devastated areas...
Dems see chance as Gregg narrows gap to single digits in gov’s race  Associated Press   ...Democrat John Gregg has begun tying Pence to Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, whose candidacy is in jeopardy following remarks he made last week that a pregnancy resulting from rape is something “God intended...”
Department of Justice Investigating Alleged Ballot Fraud At Clackamas County Elections  Willamette Week   ...the woman filled in a straight Republican ticket on the ballots where preferences had been left blank by voters...
Early voting in Florida not extended despite long lines  Raw Story   ...Florida Gov. Rick. Scott denied a request from the League of Women Voters and Florida Democrats on Friday to extend early voting, according to the News-Press. Long lines and record turnout prompted the call, but Scott reiterated that “Early voting will end Saturday night,” although he said he wants “everyone to get out to vote...”
Vultures Descend On Bainport: Sensata Plant Set to Close November 5.  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ... Overpass Light Brigade  illuminated  the procession of masked vultures and large puppets with “VULTURE IN CHIEF” over to the Sensata plant in defiance of management’s orders that workers not be on the property outside of their assigned shifts...
Waukegan school bus drivers join Teamsters  Lake County News-Sun   ...The Waukegan workers had voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in May 2012 ... The Waukegan drivers lost their election by a vote of 86-90... The Teamsters local ... filed more than 20 unfair labor practice charges and seven objections to the election. The NLRB found merit in the charges...
County sanitation workers want union  The Champion Newspaper   ...DeKalb County sanitation workers say they need their voices to be heard. That’s why they want to be represented by the Teamsters union...
Some Rivers Casino employees might form union  Daily Herald   ...A movement to organize workers at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines is gaining support from the town’s Mayor Marty Moylan, himself a former union representative. Moylan, who retired earlier this year from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 134, said he was asked by the casino’s parking and valet attendants to support their efforts to unionize under the Teamsters Local 727...

Today's Teamster News 10.30.12

Leaner government storm response one year after Irene  New York World   ...New York greets Hurricane Sandy with fewer shelters and state troopers — and a shorter timeline for evacuation...
As the Frankenstorm Arrives Romney/ Ryan Go Silent on Their Plan to Cut FEMA and Disaster Relief  Politicususa   ...As the East Coast braces for a massive storm, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are trying to cover up the fact that if elected they intend to cut funding for both FEMA and disaster relief...
Sensata outsourcing rattles Illinois community: 'Jobs need to stay here'  Guardian   ...Workers residents have held protests to prevent vehicles shipping parts destined for China from Bain-owned company...
Privatizing prisons is a scam (opinion)  Youngstown Vindicator   ... when you have to cut costs to save money to meet the profit margin of a private company shortcuts are the only way to operate. When you create shortcuts, security is the first casualty...
Digital Debate: Teamster’s Hoffa & Amway Heir DeVos: Clash Over Unions!  CBS News   ...Teamsters President James P. Hoffa is associated with the labor movement as few others, having been weaned on it by his late father, storied union boss Jimmy Hoffa who ran the powerful organization decades earlier...
Illinois School Bus Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 777  IBT   ...School bus drivers and monitors with Illinois Central School Bus in Waukegan, Ill., have voted to join Teamsters Local 777 in Lyons, Ill., standing strong throughout a hard-fought campaign for respect and justice from the employer. There are 220 workers in the bargaining unit...

Today's Teamster News 10.28.12

GDP - The Warning Signs From Exports  zero hedge   ...The continued drag on exports due to the worsening recession in the Eurozone, and the slowdown in China, is putting continued pressure on corporate profit margins.  In turn this keeps businesses on the defensive to protect profit margins which stifles employment and investment...
Anti-austerity protesters urge Spain government to resign in Madrid rally  AFP   ...Thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators marched in the Spanish capital Saturday calling for the conservative government to resign because of its severe budget cuts...
Undercover donors fuel Prop. 32 furor  San Francisco Chronicle   ...some union backers wonder whether that $11 million came from the Koch brothers, those conservative billionaire financiers who have made a name for themselves by pouring millions of dollars into political campaigns in recent years...
Sensata outsourcing rattles Illinois community: 'Jobs need to stay here'  Guardian   ...Workers residents have held protests to prevent vehicles shipping parts destined for China from Bain-owned company...
Ban ALEC gift-giving to state's lawmakers (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ... if corporations cleverly export the legislators and the lobbyists to out-of-state resorts under the rubric of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has looked the other way...
Ten days til the election... quick grab a baby! Obama charms them in New Hampshire while Romney FINALLY has some luck with the babies in Florida  Mail Online   ...Obama hugs supporters at the Teamsters Union Local 633 ahead of his campaign rally...

Today's Teamster News 10.22.12

Psst, taxes go up in 2013 for 163 million workers  Associated Press   ...A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in Washington is pushing to extend it. Neither Obama nor Romney has proposed an extension, and it probably wouldn't get through Congress anyway, with lawmakers in both parties down on the idea...
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Fighting waste and abuse in defense contractor pay  Economic Policy Institute   ...Current law permits federal contractors to charge the government up to $763,029 a year for their employees, while even federal cabinet secretaries are paid no more than $200,000 a year, and the president is paid only $400,000 a year. Manchin’s amendment would lower the cap on maximum allowable compensation paid by government funds to all DoD contract employees from $763,029 to $230,700...
British protesters demand end to "failing" austerity  Reuters   ...Tens of thousands of British protesters marched through London on Saturday calling for an end to public spending cuts and tax rises launched by a government they accuse of elitism and ignorance about the plight of recession-hit voters...
Armed Forces Show Overwhelming Support for Obama  OpenSecrets.org   ...the president has received $536,414 from military donors, compared to Paul's $399,274 and Romney's $287,435, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics...
Inside Bain's Chinese Sensata Factories, Where Workers Put in 12-Hour Days for $.99-$1.35 an Hour  Alternet   ...They'll get a small tax break for relocating the plant – the one Mitt Romney insisted did not exist during the first debate – and then use those offshore funds to defer taxes on some of the income the company generates...

Today's Teamster News 10.18.12

At Bain Capital-Owned Sensata, Six More Arrests Ahead Of Plant Closure  Huffington Post   ...Six people were arrested Wednesday morning at a north central Illinois plant run by Bain Capital-owned Sensata Technologies, where 170 workers are set to lose their jobs by the end of the year. The closing of the Sensata plant has turned into an unlikely presidential campaign issue, as the lost manufacturing jobs will be relocated to China...
Leaked Audio Captures Romney Asking Employers To Tell Their Employees How To Vote  ThinkProgress   ...I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. ..
Mexico’s Labor Law Reform Sparks Massive Protests In These Times   ...A plan to gut labor protections has spurred unrest in Mexico’s streets...
State jobs agency lost track of $8 million in overdue loans  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The blunder - only the latest in a whole series of problems at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. - began at nearly the same time as the quasi-public authority championed by Gov. Scott Walker took over for the state's previous jobs agency...
Unionized Hendrickson Trucking employees asked by police to leave company's property during auction Wednesday morning  MLive.com   ...William Bernard, business agent for the Teamsters union, said the employees were not causing any problems and thought they had the right to be at the auction...
Teamsters Local 118 to host clothing and food drive  Gatehouse News Service   ...The Teamsters Local 118 Retiree Chapter will be holding its 16th annual clothing and food drive from Oct. 29 through Nov. 11...

Sensata board member gave Romney $655K

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A director of Sensata, the Bain-owned company that's sending 170 jobs to China, likes Mitt Romney so much he and his wife contributed more than a half-million dollars to his campaign.

That isn't the only money Romney gets from people who shop U.S. jobs to China. Romney still makes $450,000 (bit a typo) a week from Bain, which is shipping other jobs overseas as well.

The Sensata workers camped out in front of their factory (as it's being shuttered) discovered the nugget about the Sensata director in a USA Today report on Bain alumni:

Stephen Zide and his wife have contributed $655,000 (to committees supporting Mitt Romney).

Zide is on the board of Sensata Technologies, and owns at least a 10% share in the company, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sensata is the former sensors and controls division of Texas Instruments bought by Bain in 2006 for $3 billion. Now, it's laying off 170 employees at its Freeport, Ill., plant and moving the jobs to China.

It's pretty clear which side Mitt Romney's on.

Today's Teamster News 10.15.12

Thousands protest in Spain, Portugal against austerity cuts  AFP   ...Portugal’s main trades union the CGTP led several thousand marchers to the front of parliament, where deputies are expected to vote through a harsh austerity budget on Monday...
Walmart Strike Memo Reveals Confidential Management Plans  Huffington Post   ...The memo makes clear that Walmart, the world's largest private employer, views the labor protests as a serious attack, a message that runs contrary to the company's public comments that the strikes are mere "publicity stunts,"...
Is This Why Romney Won't Talk to Sensata Workers Whose Jobs Are Being Shipped to China?  truthout   ...right now he is making big money from Sensata and other companies that are sending people's jobs to China...
The Three U.S. Free Trade Agreements Passed a Year Ago Today Have not Boosted U.S. Exports  Public Citizen   ...U.S. exports to Korea are down while imports from Korea and Colombia have surged, expanding job-killing U.S. trade deficit; Panama deal not even in effect...
Prop. 32 isn't what it seems (opinion)  Stockton Record   ...one side - corporate interests, Super PACs and an array of billionaires - is trying to get voters to undermine the power of their political opponents...
Another CEO Threatens To Fire Employees If Obama Wins  ThinkProgress   ...Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions … said in an email to his employees that they’d only have themselves to blame if they lose their jobs if Obama wins...