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Thursday, October 25, 2012


Rev. Jesse Jackson Arrested for Sensata Protest

FREEPORT (WIFR) -- Today at Freeport’s Sensata Technologies plant, civil rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson returned to rally with with soon-to-be out of work employees.
Jackson spent most of the afternoon in "Bainport”, the make-shift campsite that's been home to Sensata employees and their supporters for the last 40 days. Things took a turn around 4:00 p.m. when Jackson and about a dozen workers decided to march onto company property, before being arrested by police.
You may remember the plant is scheduled to close the day before the election, because around 170 jobs are being relocated to China. Today, Jackson said workers were humiliated because they've had to rain their Chinese replacements. He says he hopes his arrest will get Sensata management to the negotiating table. He hoped to convince them to keep the plant open.
“When these workers lose their jobs, they lose their homes, they lose their cars. Their kids cannot stay in school, they lose their hope. We are fighting for the integrity of the American worker, we're fighting for an even playing field,” said Jackson.
Freeport Mayor, George Gaulrapp, says he talked to Sensata management yesterday and they threatened to close the plant early if anyone entered the building today. As far as we know, that didn't happen. A caravan of about 50 former workers and supporters headed to the fire department where the people who were arrested are to be released.
Gaulrapp says the owner of California company, Turbo Coil, saw coverage of Sensata on TV last week and called him to discuss bringing his business to town. Gaulrapp says the business could open up in the empty Sensata factory, but is also looking at other buildings as well.

UPDATE: Reverend Jesse Jackson has been arrested for protesting at the Sensata plant. We'll bring you the latest on the 23 News at 5.


FREEPORT (WIFR) -- It's been a tumultuous day at Freeport’s Sensata Technologies plant, where civil rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson returned to rally with with soon-to-be out of work employees. Jackson has spent most of the afternoon in "Bainport”, the make-shift campsite that's been home to Sensata employees and their supporters for the last 40 days.
Nearly a dozen protestors, including Jackson, are expected to engage in civil disobedience around 4:00 p.m. today, if they are unable to meet with the manager of the plant.
Protestors have been warned by Sensata management that they will be arrested if they step onto company property.
Freeport’s Mayor, George Gaulrapp also said that if protestors step into the building where Sensata and Honeywell employees are working, the plant will shut down immediately. If this happens, employees of the plant will still be paid for two months, but will not be paid overtime.
The mayor also told us the Stephenson County Jail has been prepared in the event of arrests.


Rev. Jesse Jackson freed after Sensata Freeport protest arrest

Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested with a group of protesting northern Illinois workers during an act of civil disobedience in Freeport, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested with a group of protesting northern Illinois workers during an act of civil disobedience in Freeport, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012.


The Rev. Jesse Jackson says he joined workers at a northern Illinois plant that's slated to close because their fight to save their jobs is "the essence of the American struggle."
Jackson was taken into custody Wednesday with about a dozen other protesters who marched onto the property at Sensata Technologies. The company is in the process of moving its Freeport manufacturing operations to China, at a cost of 170 jobs from the Illinois plant.
The protesters were cited for violating Freeport's trespassing ordinance and released. Jackson said the protests will continue next week.

The Romney Economy Part 2: Sensata shuts down plant in panic!

by on Oct. 19, 2012, under Pol. & Govt.
        Photo courtesy of the brave Sensata workers at Bainport.
The Sensata plant at Freeport Illinois shut down early today, closing the plant for the entire weekend, barricading the entrances and telling 2nd shift workers not to report. They’re doing this out of panic. What are they afraid of?

That’s right – they’re afraid of The Ed Show! That would be MSNBC’s Ed Shultz, who does an hour long show from 5PM-6Pm Arizona time on MSNBC. And tonight he’s broadcasting his show live from Bainport, the tent city Sensata workers have set up across the road from the Sensata factory. Panic!!! Ed Shultz is coming to Freeport! Send the workers home and barricade  the entrances! He might try to come over and ask us some questions, questions we don’t want to answer. Questions like since you sell your sensors to GM & Chrysler and subsidiaries of Siemens, who sells them to Japanese car makers with assembly factories in the US, why are you moving your operation to China, thousands of miles away, even though you claim it’s to be “closer” to your customers? It couldn’t be because even though the Freeport factory set profit records last year with American workers, you think you can make even more profits paying Chinese workers 99 cents an hour? To hell with American workers, to hell with the economic devastation your plant closure will have on the community of Freeport – cheap Chinese workers = even more profit. Our investors will be able to build an elevator for their cars!
The Sensata Freeport factory is now scheduled to close November 5 – the day before the election. On election day Sensata workers will go cast their ballots, and then go file for unemployment compensation, many for the first time in their life – unless we, the American people can get them to stop it! Go to Bainport.com and sign their petition. Write your Congress and Senate representatives.  And watch the Ed Show tonight, at 5PM Arizona time, for the real story of what’s happening at Sensata Freeport/Bainport.
The Romney Economy – all our manufacturing jobs outsourced to China, while we all work at Walmart or McDonalds. Sensata is owned by Bain Capital – Mitt Romney could stop this plant closing tomorrow if he really wanted to “stand up to China” like he claims.


  • Brian Maple 6 days ago
    #OBAMA 2012
    #EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN
    #EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL PEOPLE

  • joanie24 6 days ago
    How can the American people vote for unpatriotic Romney who is a liar and conspirator to create the downfall of America by closing factories, firing workers, and shipping the factories and jobs to China?

  • Richard Vergis 4 days ago
    We the American people need to stop this at any cost. Anarchy is coming..this is the start of our future...this generation has not had to make sacrafices. Our parents stood in picket lines to make our lives better. The time is coming ...politicians won't listen...we need to act..whatever it takes.

  • fortbuckley 5 days ago
    Is this the same Sensata Industries that's associated with President Obama's pension from Illinois?
    "President Barack Obama and his supporters continue to slash at Gov. Mitt
    Romney for keeping some of his private-sector wealth overseas, even
    though the president’s Illinois pension is also invested in Chinese
    companies and a fund in the Cayman Islands."
    ...
    "The president’s overseas wealth is part of the pension he earned from
    his six years in Democratic-run Illinois legislature. The pension, which
    is worth between $50,000 and $100,000, is managed by the Illinois State Board of Investment."
    ...
    "The [pension] board’s 2011 report said it owned a $1 million bank loan held by Sensata Technologies. Obama’s share of that loan is under a dollar. Sensata is closing its U.S. facility to move 170 jobs into China,
    prompting outrage from Democrats, who have used Sensata as a club
    against Romney. The GOP presidential nominee’s money-managers have also invested a slice of his wealth in the company."
    How bad can Sensata Technologies be, if Democratic Party-dominated Illinois invests in it? Or, is Chinese money OK if DEMOCRATS benefit from it?
    http://dailycaller.com/2012/10.... (Click on this link at your own risk; the source is the "Daily Caller" website).

    • BajaDemocrats MOD 5 days ago parent
      Gimme a break. Someone eligible for a pension has absolutely zero say in what that pension plan invests in. Mitt Romney has 100% say over what he invests in. No, his wealth is in a blind trust you say? Mitt Romney himself said blind trusts are an "age old ruse". You tell a blind trust what it can & cannot do, you give it the rules". . And Romney's "blind trust" is run by his long time friend & attorney. His "blind trust" invested $1 million in a fund run by one of his son's last year. Mitt Romney founded Bain Capital and owns millions of dollars of Sensata stick. Mitt Romney could stop this plant closure and outsourcing all it's jobs to China in one phone call if he really meant what he says about "standing up to China".

    • Surprise123 5 days ago parent
      You're not deflecting attention away from this one. Most Americans' pension plans invest in companies that hurt our economy by transferring jobs, technology, expertise overseas to an authoritarian Communist regime.
      But, there is a big difference between being a small, passive shareholder in a massive pension plan, and being the former CEO of Bain Capital, and Bain's current #1 shareholder, a shareholder who will probably make millions off of the pain of the 170 soon-to-be unemployed Sensata workers.
      President Obama recognizes that the fact that his pension invests in such companies as Sensata is a problem for American workers; Mr. Romney, however, does not recognize that his former tenure at Bain, and his current status as its #1 shareholder is a problem for American workers.
      Therein lies the difference.
  • Ali Goria 6 days ago

    Considering Ed Schultz accidentally shot and killed his own dog, I wouldn't want to be in his vicinity either.

    • BajaDemocrats MOD 5 days ago parent
      And I wouldn't want to go on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.


    • Del Wasso 6 days ago parent
      Amazing, Ali, how it is that you could turn the plight of 170 of my Freeport neighbors into a tirade against a liberal talk show host. And post with a fake moniker, too.
      Conservatism is dead - having morphed into American fascism at it's worst. Get your head on straight - your job is next.


    • Surprise123 5 days ago parent
      Your job is next. That should be our mantra. Yep, keep on focusing on the messenger, and ignore the plight of those workers.
      We are Sensata. And its American workers (and the poor Chinese slave laborers, too, for that matter) are us.

  • BajaDemocrats MOD 4 days ago
    Past time for a Bain Tax - Daily Kos diary calling for tariffs in Chinese auto parts to save Sensata Freeport -
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/...
  • JoAnne Gilmer 5 days ago
    wE WILL BE A COUNTRY OF HAVES----HAVE MORES--- AND HAVE NOTHINGS!!!

  • JoAnne Gilmer 5 days ago
    Disgusting. IS THIS THE AMERICA WE WANT???? WHEN DOES THE GREED STOP????





Workers file retaliation charges as Sensata threatens to close plant early

Wed Oct 24, 2012 at 09:08 AM PDT

Bain Capital owned Sensata and Samsonite workers standing up with the Freeport Community at Bainport under a sign saying

Bain-owned Sensata Technologies has finally responded to the months-long struggle of its workers to keep their jobs from being moved to China on Nov. 5. The response? Quit fighting or we'll close the plant immediately. Faced with this clear threat of retaliation, workers have filed unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board:

Two charges were filed with the NLRB today. The first charge was for “increasing security and announcing a new policy, or a previously unenforced policy, prohibiting off-duty employees from entering work areas at non-work times, in response to and in retaliation for employees engaging in protected concerted activity,” while the second charge was for threatening to shut the plant down.
Refusing to be intimidated, the workers and their supporters are planning a protest outside the Freeport, Illinois, Sensata plant Wednesday afternoon, joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others. The protest, and the plant closure, happens not just against the backdrop of the presidential election, but as Sensata releases an earnings report:
Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. (ST) reported that its third-quarter net income was $41.5 million, or $0.23 per share, up from $26.2 million, or $0.14 per share in the same quarter last year.
But under the business model Mitt Romney built Bain Capital around, that's not enough. So with less than two weeks to go before the election, 170 Illinois workers face unemployment with severance packages reduced in preparation for the mass layoffs, and China will have that many more dollar-an-hour jobs that used to be American jobs good enough to own homes and send kids to college. And now the workers fighting that are being told to shut up or lose their jobs a couple weeks early.

Mr. President, Finish by Highlighting Sensata

Posted: 10/24/2012 3:36 pm




President Obama,
As you head into the home stretch of this campaign, you should follow the example of Cheri Bustos, the democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois's 17th district. Bustos has opened a clear lead over her incumbent Republican opponent by standing with the district's Sensata workers whose jobs are being outsourced by Bain Capital to China.
This past Saturday, I spoke with Cheri Bustos on Take Action News about Sensata and the importance of U.S. manufacturing. (My interview with Cheri is 20.5 minutes into the second hour of the show podcast, which you can download here.)
Bustos is a thoughtful, caring citizen whose professional experience would put most Representatives in Congress to shame. She served as a city council member for East Moline, worked as a nonprofit hospital executive, and previously spent 17 years as an investigative reporter at the local Quad City Times. I'm a little biased on this. Still, it would be nice to see more journalists representing Americans in Congress. After all, reporters see the consequences of corruption and bad policy up close. And, they've already got an appreciation for transparency and serving the greater good.

Nothing is more impressive about Cheri Bustos, however, than her active and unwavering solidarity with the Sensata workers who call the 17th district home. Bain Capital bought Sensata, a car sensor manufacturer, a few years ago, and recently decided to move the Freeport, IL factory to China. Sensata's 170 workers, many of whom have worked at the factory for decades, have been forced to endure the humiliating task of training their Chinese replacements, even as they wave their livelihoods and pensions good-bye.
Last week Cheri stood with the workers in a visit to their "Bainport" encampment and spoke passionately to me about their struggle. She noted the Sensata plant is, "in a part of our district with the highest unemployment rate in the state, and one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation... and then these families are having to face training their Chinese replacements."
There's not much any politician can do now to help the Sensata workers save their jobs. Only Bain capitol could help with that. And, Mitt Romney's company refuses. Still, there is much the rest of us can do to help prevent other American workers from losing their jobs to China. Bustos, for example, supports the Bring Jobs Home Act, which would revoke tax breaks for companies like Bain that ship jobs overseas -- and reward companies that invest in jobs at home.
Bustos' opponent, on the other hand -- Republican Congressman Bobby Schilling, has refused to support creating financial incentives to keep jobs in the United States. In fact, when Tom Gaulrapp, a decades-long Sensata worker, and several other Sensata workers asked Representative Schilling about this issue at town hall meeting, Schilling had them kicked out rather than answer their question.
Schilling's refusal to look Sensata workers in the eye shouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, the Tea Party Republican wants to cut the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, a program that retrains workers whose jobs are outsourced overseas.
As a result of Sensata, the outsourcing jobs to China has become a "defining issue" in Illinois 17th Congressional district race. Polls show it has also become a winning issue for Bustos. According to the most recent polling, Bustos now leads Bobby Schilling by 4 points.
In late August, before Bustos put Sensata front and center in her campaign, Schilling had a double-digit lead.
Mr. President, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from following the lead of Cheri Bustos. In the Hofstra town hall debate last week, you referred indirectly to Bain Capital's reputation as a "pioneer in outsourcing." You told Governor Romney, "You're the last person who would get tough on China." Now Mr. President, it's time to go even further. Because the fact is, Governor Romney is still making money from the shipping of jobs to China. Thanks to his equity in Bain, Mitt Romney got a huge tax break from transferring his stock in Sensata to a charitable foundation in 2011. And yet, Mr. Romney refuses to meet with the Sensata workers, hear their complaints, or even address the issue of outsourcing.
President Obama, Sensata is a potent one-two punch. It's a chance for you to show your commitment to American manufacturing and hit Mitt Romney for being a job-outsourcing tax cheat. Sometime before election day, take your campaign to Freeport, Illinois; meet with the Sensata workers, promote the Bring Home Jobs act, and hammer Mitt Romney's Bain Capital. Their business model, while successful for Bain executives, has often been a disaster for American workers.
Take Action, Mr. President. Give Cheri Bustos a call if you need guidance. But don't let election day come and go without emphatically and clearly reminding all voters that keeping jobs in the United States matters.


Sensata

By: Todd Tuesday October 23, 2012 2:52 pm


Like most great American tragedies, this is a story that has ramifications for every American. It’s a story about why the American middle class is failing but it is also a personal tragedy about American workers losing high-tech high paying manufacturing jobs to outsourcing and it’s about a town and workers lives being destroyed for decidedly unAmerican profits. The story is also a microcosm of how the super wealthy, such as Mr. Romney in this case, profit from destroying the wealth of the middle class by replacing American jobs with cheap ( $1.35-99 cents/ hour) labor that works 135 hours per week.
Since 2000, the US has lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs and most of these jobs moved to China which may pay workers as little as a 99 cents an hour. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney reported last year that he had divested all of his interests in China. As it turns out, he didn’t and still owns interests in Chinese companies. Over the last two years, he’s made a large profit using an unusual tax loophole to pay a low tax rate on profits he made from a company named Sensata.
The Sensata workers from Freeport Illinois are to be laid off near election day. The lay-offs were announced even though Sensata had record profits. The jobs are being shipped to China.  The business term for this type of job shipping is off-shoring..
The workers believe that Bain is acting in an unethical manner because their jobs are being replaced by foreign labor that works for very low slave wages (about $1.35-99 cents per hour) in a communist country where plants operate without quality, safety or pollution controls. The American workers were also forced to train their Chinese replacements while the companies America flag over the plant was lowered.
The workers also point out that the business model used in this deal is similar to many of the deals that Mr. Romney made when he was at Bain.  Bain purchased the company from Honeywell and then outsourced many HoneyWell jobs before renaming the company Sensata. Sensata is a European firm that is owned by Bain capital.  Although Mr. Romney didn’t make this deal, the workers feel he should use his influence to stop the job losses. For the past year, Mr. Romney has refused to intervene, accept a petition from the workers and their supporters, or discuss the matter with the workers.
Bainport, a protest encampment, was set up for the laid off workers last month.
President Obama’s jobs bill would have discouraged Bain from outsourcing the jobs. The bill was blocked by both Republicans and conservative Democrats over the summer and again last week.  The bill would have blocked Mr. Romney and Bain from receiving tax breaks for closing a company that is shipping jobs overseas.
Mr. Romney’s campaign has made a number of false statements in regards to the Sensata story. His campaign accused Mr. Obama of owning stock in the company (not true) and argued that Democrats were involved in the management of Bain without noting that the head of Sensata made a $655,000 donation to the Romney campaign.   In addition, Bain is the leading contributor to the Republican National Party.  Mr. Romney’s campaign also claimed that his money is in a blind trust so he has no control over it which many have argued isn’t the case.
The media has also expressed concerns over the legality and ethics of the tax maneuvers used by Mr. Romney to receive lower taxes for profits he earned from Sensata and other companies. Other argued that Mr. Romney is taking advantage of a loophole in the tax laws which allows Bain to deduct the costs of closing the plant while transferring the jobs to China.
Mr. Romney has also argued that Bain outsourced failing companies. However, Sensata was making record profits.
More recently, Mr. Romney has argued that the President has Chinese investments through an old pension account. Of course, a pension account really is like a blind trust. You have no control over specific investments. Republicans also have attempted to misdirect the public by accussing the Sensata workers of being communists.
So far, most media reports have been rather piecemeal.  Reporting on some aspects of the story while ignoring others. For example, some stories have focused on the idea that the only way to determine whether Mr. Romney’s taxes are not illegal or questionable would be to see them. However, Mr. Romney has refused to release his taxes for the period under question (2000-2009).   Most mainstream news sources have yet to cover the story.
However, the really important message of the story is that slowly all American workers are being forced to compete with sweatshop labor that lacks safety, quality, labor and pollution control standards.  That is, the Sensata workers’ story partly  explains why the American middle class is failing and it also partly explains how the superwealthy are becoming even more wealthy.

Complete Timeline, References and Videos Relating to Sensata Last Updated October 22nd, 2012

UPDATE 2 !  Breaking News  Sensata is threatening to fire it’s remaining employees now if they protest with Rev. Jackson tomorrow.   Employees have decided to go ahead with the rally.

UPDATE1  In response to comments, I added the response of five presidential candidates opinions on this topic based on a response to a Townhall question and Candy Crowley follow-up question from the second debate.

CAROL GOLDBERG: The outsourcing of American jobs overseas has taken a toll on our economy. What plans do you have to put back and keep jobs here in the United States?
MITT ROMNEY: Boy, great question and important question, because you’re absolutely right. And the place where we’ve seen manufacturing go has been China. China is now the largest manufacturer in the world—used to be the United States of America. A lot of good people have lost jobs. A half-a-million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last four years. That’s total over the last four years. One of the reasons for that is that people think it’s more attractive in some cases to go offshore than to—than to stay here. We have made it less attractive for enterprises to stay here than to go offshore from time to time. What I will do as president is make sure it’s more attractive to come to America again.
This is the way we’re going to create jobs in this country. It’s not by trickle-down government, saying we’re going to take more money from people and hire more government workers, raise more taxes, put in place more regulations. Trickle-down government has never worked here, has never worked anywhere. I want to make America the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs, for small business, for big business, to invest and grow in America.
Now, we’re going to have to make sure that as we trade with other nations] that they play by the rules. And China hasn’t. One of the reasons—or one of the ways they don’t play by the rules is artificially holding down the value of their currency, because if they put their currency down low, that means their prices on their goods are low. And that makes them advantageous in the marketplace. We lose sales, and manufacturers here in the U.S. making the same products can’t compete. China has been a currency manipulator for years and years and years. And the president has a regular opportunity to—to label them as a—as a currency manipulator but refuses to do so. On day one, I will label China a currency manipulator, which will allow me as president to be able to put in place, if necessary, tariffs where I believe that they are taking unfair advantage of our manufacturers. So we’re going to make sure that people we trade with around the world play by the rules.
But let me—let me not just stop there. Don’t forget, what’s key to bringing back jobs here is not just finding someone else to punish—and I’m going to be strict with people who we trade with to make sure they—they follow the law and play by the rules—but it’s also to make America the most attractive place in the world for businesses of all kinds. That’s why I want to down the tax rates on small employers, big employers, so they want to be here. Canada’s tax rate on companies is now 15 percent. Ours is 35 percent. So if you’re starting a business, where would you rather start it? We have to be competitive if we’re going to create more jobs here.
Regulations have quadrupled. The rate of regulations quadrupled under this president. I talk to small businesses across the country. They say, “We feel like we’re under attack from our own government.” I want to make sure that regulators see their job as encouraging small business, not crushing it. And there’s no question but that “Obamacare” has been an extraordinary deterrent to enterprises of all kinds hiring people.
My priority is making sure that we get more people hired. If we have more people hired, if we get back manufacturing jobs, if we get back all kinds of jobs into this country, then you’re going to see rising incomes again. The reason incomes are down is because unemployment is so high. I know what it takes to get this to happen, and my plan will do that, and one part of it is to make sure that we keep China playing by the rules.
VIRGIL GOODE JR.: President Obama claims to be for jobs in America, yet, under his administration, continuing the tradition in the Bush administration, they bring in approximately 1.2 million people every year and give them green cards. Of that 1.2 million, about three-fourths are working-age persons stealing jobs from U.S. citizens. The jobs in America should go first to U.S. citizens. With unemployment, to use Obama’s numbers, at 7.8 percent, we need to have a near-complete moratorium on green card issuances. Mr. Obama’s title should be, “bring ’em in from other countries.”
Then you go to Mr. Romney on the issue. When he was with Bain Capital, they sent all kinds of jobs to China and other foreign countries because of lower wages, no employment commission restrictions, no Department of Labor restrictions. If I were president, our trade measures would be totally renegotiated in favor of manufacturing and more jobs in this country, instead of seeing how many we could send overseas that benefit many of those behind the super PACs that are pouring so much money into the Obama and Romney ads. Virgil Goode will stand up for jobs in the United States for U.S. citizens first.
ROCKY ANDERSON: For 35 years, we had a thriving middle class in this country. People were doing well. That doesn’t mean there weren’t people on the margins, but there were good jobs. Wages were being raised. We had a strong union movement, which contributed a great deal to that thriving middle class. And now we’re seeing a return to the Gilded Age with a disparity in income and wealth unparalleled since the 1920s. We can do so much better providing good jobs, but having a strong labor movement in this country is crucial to that.
DR. JILL STEIN: So, if the question is how to stop the outsourcing of our jobs, you know, it’s very clear we need to stop expanding the free trade agreements that send our jobs overseas and which also undermine wages here at home by effectively threatening workers that if they don’t drop their wages and their benefits, that their jobs are gone.
So, we saw the first free trade agreement, NAFTA, enacted under Bill Clinton, a Democrat. We saw it carried out under George Bush, but then we saw Barack Obama expand three free trade agreements and is now negotiating a secret free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that will continue to offshore jobs, undermine wages, and, as well, this time compromise American sovereignty with an international corporate board that can rule on our laws and regulations and say whether or not they pass muster. This is an absolute outrage against American sovereignty, democracy and our economy.
We need to turn the free trade agreements into fair trade agreements. And again, the Green New Deal will create the community-based jobs we need here, supporting small businesses, worker co-operatives, and public services and worker—and public works to put people back to work right now, for the cost—less than the cost of the first stimulus package.
President Obama promised that he would support the Employee Free Choice Act, and he did almost nothing to see that that was done, yet another promise betrayed by President Obama for the middle class while he was serving the interests of Wall Street. So we can bring those jobs back. We can renegotiate those trade agreements, put in place a WPA-like project, and raise wages, including the minimum wage, which will have that rippling effect and helping out everybody along the way.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: OK. We need to create jobs here. And both Governor Romney and I agree, actually, that we should lower our corporate tax rate. It’s too high.
But there’s a difference in terms of how we would do it. I want to close loopholes that allow companies to deduct expenses when they move to China, that allow them to profit offshore and not have to get taxed, so they have tax advantages offshore. All those changes in our tax code would make a difference.
Now Governor Romney actually wants to expand those tax breaks. One of his big ideas when it comes to corporate tax reform would be to say, if you invest overseas, you make profits overseas, you don’t have to pay U.S. taxes. But of course if you’re a small business or a mom- and-pop business or a big business starting up here, you’ve got to pay even the reduced rate that Governor Romney’s talking about. And it’s estimated that that will create 800,000 new jobs. Problem is, they’ll be in China or India or Germany. That’s not the way we’re going to create jobs here.
The way we’re going to create jobs here is not just to change our tax code but also to double our exports. And we are on pace to double our exports, one of the commitments I made when I was president. That’s creating tens of thousands of jobs all across the country. That’s why we’ve kept on pushing trade deals but trade deals that make sure that American workers and American businesses are getting a good deal.
Now Governor Romney talked about China. As I already indicated, in the private sector, Governor Romney’s company invested in what were called pioneers of outsourcing. That’s not my phrase; that’s what reporters called it.
And as far as currency manipulation, the currency’s actually gone up 11 percent since I’ve been president because we have pushed them hard. And we’ve put unprecedented trade pressure on China. That’s why exports have significantly increased under my presidency. That’s going to help to create jobs here.
CROWLEY: Mr. President, we have a really short time for a quick discussion here.
iPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in China. One of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper here. How do you convince a great American company to bring that manufacturing back here?
ROMNEY: The answer is very straightforward. We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China’s been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. Number two, by stealing our intellectual property; our designs, our patents, our technology. There’s even an Apple store in China that’s a counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis, that’s number one.
Number two, we have to make America the most attractive place for entrepreneurs, for people who want to expand their business. That’s what brings jobs in. The president’s characterization of my tax plan…
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: …is completely…is completely…
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: …is completely false. Let me tell you…
CROWLEY: Let me to go the president here because we really are running out of time. And the question is can we ever get — we can’t get wages like that. It can’t be sustained.
OBAMA: Candy, there are some jobs that are not going to come back. Because they are low wage, low skill jobs. I want high wage, high skill jobs. That’s why we have to emphasize manufacturing. That’s why we have to invest in advanced manufacturing. That’s why we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got the best science and research in the world. And when we talk about deficits, if we’re adding to our deficit for tax cuts for folks who don’t need them, and we’re cutting investments in research and science that will create the next Apple, create the next new innovation that will sell products around the world, we will lose that race.
If we’re not training engineers to make sure that they are equipped here in this country. Then companies won’t come here. Those investments are what’s going to help to make sure that we continue to lead this world economy, not just next year, but 10 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now.

Jesse Jackson speaks to Sensata protesters

 By Nick Crow
Posted Oct 22, 2012 @ 05:39 PM
Last update Oct 23, 2012 @ 10:49 AM


Oct 23, 2012 @ 10:47 AM
Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks at the Bainport encampment in Freeport Oct 22, 2012 before marching to the Sensata factory to ask for a full severance for the 170 workers whose jobs are being outsourced to China in November.

JOE TAMBORELLO / THE JOURNAL-STANDARD

Rev. Jesse Jackson (center) leads a march to the Sensata Technologies plant in Freeport from the nearby Bainport encampment Monday with Sensata workers, protesters, and local politicians. Jackson attempted to speak with Sensata management.



Civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke to a spirited crowd at the “Bainport” encampment in Freeport on Monday. Jackson stressed to the workers that Sensata is “foreign policy for the greedy” and told workers that they deserved a full severance package from the plant.
“We must draw the line here in Freeport,” said Jackson. “The Chinese are not taking jobs from us; we are taking jobs to them. We all look the same in the dark; it’s time to turn the lights on.”
The event began with Sensata employees Dot Turner and Tom Gaulrapp making statements regarding their impending job losses before Jackson took to the stage speak to protesters.
“I’ve been over there for 43 years, but when they pull the rug out from beneath you, past performance doesn’t count,” said Turner. “We don’t have anyone in the board room fighting for us.”
The “Bainport” encampment, which is in its 41st day, was established across from the Sensata plant in Freeport to protest the outsourcing of jobs. By the end of the year, 170 jobs at the facility will be lost to China.
“We can compete with China when the rules are fair,” said Jackson. “We demand a place on the agenda; we want a fair trade policy.”
The Sensata protests have gained national attention because it is owned by Bain Capital, which was formerly run by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. In recent months, the “Bainport” camp has hosted U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Reverend Al Sharpton, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, among others. 
“This is more than Bain, this is corporate trade policy,” said Jackson. “Sensata can leave, but we are staying.”
After Jackson’s speech he led protestors across the street to the lobby of Sensata, where in recent weeks nine protestors had been arrested. The crowd chanted “full severance now” and “save our plants, save our jobs” as they converged on the lobby. 
Once inside the lobby, Jackson spoke by phone with security asking for entry and full severance for the workers. After being denied access to the building, police arrived on the scene and asked protesters to leave the grounds. No arrests were made. 
“This must end, and we must be prepared,” said Jackson. “This is the fight of our time. We see a whole trend taking place. The American worker is not getting a fair shake. This issue is about American corporations preying on us.”
Jackson planned to remain in Freeport Monday night to watch the third and final presidential debate with protesters.
Sensata develops, manufactures and sells sensors and controls for auto companies. 
JOE TAMBORELLO / THE JOURNAL-STANDARD

Rev. Jesse Jackson (center) signs a book Monday at the Bainport encampment for George Hartman of Freeport, one of the 170 Sensata Technologies workers who will be losing their jobs in November when the positions are moved to China.

Inside Bain's Chinese Sensata Factories, Where Workers Put in 12-Hour Days for $.99-$1.35 an Hour

Bain didn't build that new factory -- the Chinese Government did.
 Mitt romney has made Obama's out-of-context “you didn't build that” quote a central theme of his campaign. It's ironic, as Mitt Romney is going to profit just before the election when Bain-owned Sensata Technologies moves 170 high-tech jobs from Freeport, Illinois, to a plant in China built for the firm by the Chinese government.
Sensata enjoyed record revenues last year – this isn't about making the “hard choices” necessary to save a failing enterprise. The workers in Freeport have been working 24 hours a day, in three shifts. They make $14-17 per hour, with benefits.
According to a report by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, one of Bain's first actions after buying Sensata was to set up “12 Sensata/Bain capital funds 'organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands' so as to avoid paying taxes.” 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.
American tax-payers, on the other hand, have paid $780,000 to retrain some of Sensata's laid off workers in Illinois, according to the New York Times . One would be hard pressed to come up with a clearer example of capturing private gains while socializing the costs.
Mitt Romney is not directly involved in Bain Capital, but he did build its business model. In 1998, when he was actively running Bain, he personally visited the Global-Tech Appliances plant in Dongguan, China. He witnessed, personally, the horrific conditions the plant's workers were toiling in for .24 cents an hour, and didn't hesitate to invest millions in the firm.
We've heard a lot about the workers in Freeport. But on this week's AlterNet Radio Hour, I spoke with Charles  Kernaghan, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, about what life is like for the Chinese workers in Sensata's existing Chinese plants. The podcast below is about 20 minutes long – give it a listen.

Freeport Sensata plant shuts down for weekend as protests of the company’s outsourcing grow


The Sensata Technologies plant in Freeport, Ill., has sent workers home and closed the plant for the entire weekend, barricading the entrances and telling second-shift workers not to report to work. MSNB’s “The Ed Show” will broadcast live from “Bainport” — the Sensata workers’ encampment across the street from the plant at Stephenson County Fairgrounds — tonight, Friday, Oct. 19. (Photo courtesy of www.bainport.com)
Online Staff Report
FREEPORT, Ill. — Sensata Technologies employees in Freeport, Ill., on the plant’s second and weekend shift received phone calls from the company’s management Oct. 19 informing them they don’t need to report to work any longer.
Sensata is shutting down the plant’s operations for the weekend in the face of growing national outrage at the Bain-owned company’s outsourcing of the plant and its 170 jobs to China by the end of the year.
We thought we’d be working today, but they now say not to come in at all,” said Sensata employee Bobby Ballard. “I asked if it had to do with the protests, and the person on the phone said yes.”
This past week, six community supporters were arrested during a sit-in at Sensata’s Freeport plant, and the protests have been covered by CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times. MSNBC’s The Ed Show will broadcast live from the “Bainport” encampment across the street from the plant tonight, Friday, Oct. 19.
The second shift workers have been told they will still receive their pay, but won’t have to show up. The workers are still fighting for a full severance. They tried to deliver a petition to the plant manager Wednesday, Oct. 17, as part of their effort to win a full severance. Workers who have been at the plant for 20, 30 and even 40-plus years are getting 26 weeks of pay as a severance from Bain-owned Sensata.
We said we’re not going down without a fight, but now they are running scared,” said Tom Gaulrapp, one of the workers who has led the protests and has worked at the plant for 33 years. “They are afraid of us and all the attention and support we’ve received from around the country.”
Sensata has emerged as a flashpoint in the controversy over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s ties to China this fall, with the candidates alluding to Romney’s investment in Sensata in the Oct. 16 presidential debate.
Sensata workers have pleaded publicly with Romney to help save their jobs from being outsourced to China. Not only does Romney stand to profit from the outsourcing of these jobs through the stock he still owns in the company, his 2011 tax returns show he got a huge tax break by moving Sensata stock to a charity organization he controls — and that he continues to profit from Bain’s offshore holdings and tax avoidance strategies.
Created in 2006, Sensata develops, manufactures, and sells sensors and controls for major auto manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors.
Workers at the plant have been training their Chinese replacements, who have been flown to Illinois by the company. The final layoffs are expected to be made in November. The plant employs 170.
Workers began an encampment, since named “Bainport,” Sept. 12 at Stephenson County Fairgrounds to protest Bain’s decision to ship their jobs to China and increase the pressure on former Bain co-founder/CEO Romney — who still profits directly from Sensata — to help save their jobs.
The workers plan to stay at the encampment until Romney agrees to help save their jobs, or, as stated in a release from the group, “until middle-class voters nationwide understand the dangers of a Romney economy for our country.”
Romney is a co-founder of Bain Capital, the private equity investment firm that created Sensata. According to SEC filings, Romney served as CEO of Bain Capital from its founding in 1984 until 2002. Romney, however, has repeatedly said he left the company in 1999.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., visited Bainport Tuesday, Oct. 16. The workers have previously welcomed former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and Bain workers from France to their encampment. The Rev. Al Sharpton is planning to visit the plant Saturday, Oct. 20.
Over the past few months, Sensata workers have tried to contact Romney with a 35,000-signature petition, frequent protests outside the plant and trips to nearby campaign offices.
In July, the Freeport City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on Romney to meet the workers and use his influence at Bain to intervene on their behalf. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) echoed their call during a trip to Freeport later that month.
Workers took their campaign directly to Romney at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 27-30.
Posted Oct. 19, 2012

The Romney Economy Part 2: Sensata shuts down plant in panic!

by on Oct. 19, 2012, under Pol. & Govt.
   
Photo courtesy of the brave Sensata workers at Bainport.
The Sensata plant at Freeport Illinois shut down early today, closing the plant for the entire weekend, barricading the entrances and telling 2nd shift workers not to report. They’re doing this out of panic. What are they afraid of?

That’s right – they’re afraid of The Ed Show! That would be MSNBC’s Ed Shultz, who does an hour long show from 5PM-6Pm Arizona time on MSNBC. And tonight he’s broadcasting his show live from Bainport, the tent city Sensata workers have set up across the road from the Sensata factory. Panic!!! Ed Shultz is coming to Freeport! Send the workers home and barricade  the entrances! He might try to come over and ask us some questions, questions we don’t want to answer. Questions like since you sell your sensors to GM & Chrysler and subsidiaries of Siemens, who sells them to Japanese car makers with assembly factories in the US, why are you moving your operation to China, thousands of miles away, even though you claim it’s to be “closer” to your customers? It couldn’t be because even though the Freeport factory set profit records last year with American workers, you think you can make even more profits paying Chinese workers 99 cents an hour? To hell with American workers, to hell with the economic devastation your plant closure will have on the community of Freeport – cheap Chinese workers = even more profit. Our investors will be able to build an elevator for their cars!
The Sensata Freeport factory is now scheduled to close November 5 – the day before the election. On election day Sensata workers will go cast their ballots, and then go file for unemployment compensation, many for the first time in their life – unless we, the American people can get them to stop it! Go to Bainport.com and sign their petition. Write your Congress and Senate representatives.  And watch the Ed Show tonight, at 5PM Arizona time, for the real story of what’s happening at Sensata Freeport/Bainport.
The Romney Economy – all our manufacturing jobs outsourced to China, while we all work at Walmart or McDonalds. Sensata is owned by Bain Capital – Mitt Romney could stop this plant closing tomorrow if he really wanted to “stand up to China” like he claims.

Romney Audience Calls Sensata Workers Communists for Trying to Keep Jobs in USA








Yes, this is real.
Employees of the Sensata plant who had to train their Chinese replacements because Bain is shipping their jobs overseas went to a Romney rally in hopes of finally getting him to hear their pleas. Tom Gaulrapp explained, “(A)s we were being removed, his (Romney’s) supporters are scream—first they start a “U.S.A.” chant. And we’re like, “Yes, we agree.” And then they started calling us communists for trying to keep our jobs from going to China.”

Amy Goodman broadcasted from the tent city of Bainport on September 20 for Democracy Now!. She interviewed Tom Gaulrapp, who has worked at Sensata Technologies for 33 years, about their hopes of getting Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to help save their jobs:

TOM GAULRAPP: Yeah, we look at it that these—Bain Capital board has made their decision. The Sensata CEO has made his decision. So we believe that the only person in the world who can stop these jobs from being moved is Mitt Romney, because of his relationship with the Bain board, his financial investment in Bain Capital. And we also believe that if he would come and talk to us and see the impact that this kind of outsourcing has on not only the people who work there but, as the mayor has addressed, the community and the surrounding area, that he would see that this is absolutely the wrong thing to do because of the devastation it brings. But, you know, so far, we continue to receive no response from them. They continue to say they’re unaware of the situation, although at this point we certainly know they are aware of the situation, so…

AMY GOODMAN: So, you went to Iowa to try to talk to Mitt Romney?

TOM GAULRAPP: Yes. We—

AMY GOODMAN: [inaudible]

TOM GAULRAPP: They were having in event in Bettendorf, Iowa. And they—if you went online, you could get these free tickets, so we decided we would go. And I was seven rows from the podium that he stood behind. And I asked him, “Will you please come to Freeport, Illinois, and help Sensata employees save their jobs?” At that point, we were removed. And as we were being removed, his supporters are scream—first they start a “U.S.A.” chant. And we’re like, “Yes, we agree.” And then they started calling us communists for trying to keep our jobs from going to China. And I have never understood that yet.

End transcript. 

Is Romney so afraid of confrontation that he can’t manage this kind of conflict without having security eject the American citizens? All they wanted was to meet with Romney.

Romney supporters yelled “Communist” at fellow Americans who are trying to save their jobs from being shipped overseas to China by Mitt Romney’s company. They yelled this as the Romney people have the Americans workers “removed” from a political rally for trying to get Romney’s ear on a pretty important subject.

Mitt Romney’s business practices, with the lack of transparency and top down power structure, are more in line with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) than the workers his supporters were yelling at. The New York Times exposed the fundamental hypocrisy in Romney’s tough China talk when Bain is touting China as a great investment because labor is 85% cheaper.
Tom Gaulrapp of Bainport doesn’t understand that his fellow citizens are being brainwashed by Fox News to turn on him and anyone eles who sticks up for their rights with rabid mob rage.

Perhaps patriotism is best put into practice by being willing to be educated and informed about what’s really going on. It’s just not patriotic to get your “news” from a propaganda outlet like Fox News. Romney supporters calling Americans Communists who are sticking up for keeping jobs in the USA! USA! USA! is proof that the propaganda experiment has gone too far.

Sensata worker: Romney's job claims make him 'just a bold-faced liar'

Tue Oct 16, 2012 at 07:41 AM PDT

Bain Capital owned Sensata and Samsonite workers standing up with the Freeport Community at Bainport under a sign saying
Sensata Technologies workers have been fighting for months to let the world know what Bain Capital and Mitt Romney were doing to them: packing up a profitable plant in Illinois and sending the jobs to China, forcing American workers to train the Chinese workers who would ultimately replace them. Mitt Romney still isn't acknowledging his responsibility, either for the way of doing business he set up at Bain or for the millions he personally has invested in the funds that control Sensata. But the Sensata story is catching fire, and the workers are letting voters know what a Romney jobs plan looks like.
  • Sensata worker Mary Jo Kerr was on The Ed Show on Monday night, saying she had initially liked Romney before she learned his connection to Bain and Sensata. About Romney's campaign claims, she says that "he's just a bold-faced liar. He's going out there saying 'I'm going to create American jobs' when no, he's not, he's profiting off of jobs going overseas." The Ed Show will go on the road to Freeport, Illinois, on Friday.
  • Bainport, the camp workers have set up across the street from the Sensata factory, is getting a visit from Sen. Dick Durbin, along with Democratic congressional candidate Cheri Bustos, on Tuesday morning. The Rev. Al Sharpton will visit Bainport on Saturday.
  • Workers not just from Sensata but from other Bain-owned companies rallied outside Bain headquarters in Manhattan on Monday. "I was unemployed for two years and the job at Burlington is the only job I could find. I know I’m not the only one with that experience," Burlington Coat Factory employee Richard Hooten said. "My mother and I have had to move to a series of smaller and cheaper apartments. Even so, I can’t afford both rent and healthcare. What’s going to happen when these are the only jobs we can find? None of us will be able to get by." The workers are going to Long Island to tell their stories outside Tuesday night's presidential debate.
Mitt Romney, businessman, was nothing like the job creator he wants voters to believe he was. He cut jobs, cut pensions, cut pay at the jobs that were left. Even today he's profiting off of the destruction of good American manufacturing jobs. This is the business experience Romney is so proud of, and it's the economic experience he'd bring into office. Voters need to know that, and the Sensata workers are getting the word out every way they can.

Is This Why Romney Won't Talk to Sensata Workers Whose Jobs Are Being Shipped to China?

Saturday, 13 October 2012 12:17 By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | News Analysis

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, addresses an overflow crowd at a campaign event at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina, October 11, 2012. (Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times)Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, addresses an overflow crowd at a campaign event at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina, October 11, 2012. (Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times)On the campaign trail Romney says we shouldn't ship jobs to China and should "crack down" on China trade problems. But he refuses to help or even meet with the Sensata workers whose jobs are being shipped to China right now.
Why the refusal to line up his actions with his promises? A must-read, must-read, must-read news report explains how part of Romney's $450,000/week income comes from ... get this ... shipping jobs to China!
First, the background...
Sensata - Happening Today
Mitt Romney started the "private equity" firm Bain Capital. Bain purchases companies using "leveraged buyouts" that borrow huge sums using the purchased company's own assets as collateral, uses the borrowed money to immediately pay itself, then cuts costs by doing things like sending jobs to China, cutting wages and manipulating tax rules to cut taxes owed, along with standard big-business practices like consolidating business units, taking advantage of economies of scale not available to smaller competitors, squeezing distribution channels for price cuts, and other practices that bring competitive advantages. (See So DID Mitt Romney Really "Create Jobs" At Staples?) After reorganizing the purchased companies Bain then "harvests" them for profit.
One company Bain Capital purchased is Sensata, a sensor manufacturer that makes key components for our automobile supply chain. Sensata then announced it is closing a factory in Freeport, Ill., and sending the manufacturing and jobs to China. (China is engaged in efforts to dominate American auto supplies. See China Cheating Costs 400K Auto Parts Jobs and Why The Latest Trade Complaint Against China Matters.)
Bain/Sensata brought in Chinese workers and made the Freeport workers train them. Bain/Sensata is moving the equipment out of the Freeport factory and shipping it to China right now. The Freeport employees have set up a camp outside the factory that they call Bainport and are trying to stop the Bain trucks that are moving the equipment out for shipment to China. Supporters were arrested this week, trying to stop those trucks.
The Sensata employees heard Romney on the campaign trail, and somehow got the idea that he opposes sending our jobs to China. So they asked him to come to Freeport/Bainport and help them. Read on to learn about Romney's response to the Sensata workers, and how Romney is actually making big money right now from shipping their jobs to China.
"The week before they came they took the American flag down outside the plant. The week after they left they put it back up."
The China Problem – The Public Gets It
During the George W. Bush administration we lost more than 50,000 factories and at least 6 million manufacturing jobs directly to China. (Never mind the effect on the supply chains, the grocery and clothing stores where those people shopped, etc... The foreclosures, the bankruptcies, the misery...) Thanks, George!
This chart from Think Progress shows what happened to our manufacturing base immediately after Bush took office. Seriously, look at this chart and see if you can just guess why we have such a terrible economy today:

bloombergmanufacturingchart

The public gets it – the problem is China. Polls show that the public overwhelmingly – by percentages in the 80s and 90s for Democrats and Republicans alike – understands that a huge part of our economic troubles come from the was we have been shipping jobs, factories and industries to China.
ABC News, from July: ‘Made In America’ Policies Hugely Popular, Survey Shows
Nearly 9 out of 10 Republicans and Independents and 91 percent of Democrats said they support “Buy America” preferences, according to the survey, which was conducted by the Democratic-leaning Mellman Group.
Another poll,
When it comes to trade with China, the poll found that voters emphatically support tough action on Beijing’s cheating on currency and other trade obligations.
Another, from a key state: New Zogby Poll: Ohio Voters Favor Boycott of China Over Unfair Trade.
Romney Can Read Polls
One thing the Romney campaign can do is read polls. So Mitt Romney sees the polls and says he wants to do something about China.
The Hill: Romney, campaigning in Ohio, vows to stop China's 'cheating' trade practices
Bloomberg: Romney Ad Says He Will `Stand Up to China': Video
The Hill: New Romney ad says Obama won’t ‘stand up to China’ on trade, jobs
So, on the campaign trail Romney says he will stand up to China's cheating, and opposes companies that send jobs and factories to China.
Romney Refuses to Help – Even Talk With – Sensata Workers
Romney wants to be President, and polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants something done about the problem of jobs and factories moving to China, and the resulting was pressure that puts on the rest of us and on our economy. So Romney says he will do something about it.
But Romney's current actions are opposite his current words. He complains about China currency manipulation, but refuses to ask the Republican House leadership to bring the China currency bill up for a vote, and refuses to ask more than 60 Republican co-sponsors of that bill to sign a "discharge petition" that would force a vote.
And Romney refuses to even meet with Sensata workers. When asked if Romney would help these workers the Romney campaign says Romney will not do it:
"Governor Romney has not worked at Bain Capital for over a decade, but for four years President Obama has been presiding over an economy that is creating too few jobs and sending more jobs overseas. Despite the President being invested in Sensata through his personal pension fund, and the government owning a major Sensata customer in GM, President Obama has not used his powers to help this situation in any way."— Curt Cashour, Romney Campaign Spokesman.
Why is Romney saying he wants to do something about the trade problem with China, but refusing to actually do anything about the trade problem with China? Here is one possible reason why.
Romney Making Big Money From Bain Sending Sensata Jobs to China
A must-read news report today by Sharon LaFraniere and Mike McIntire in The New York Times explains. As Romney Repeats Trade Message, Bain Maintains China Ties (emphasis added, for emphasis),
Mr. Romney also has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares.
Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf.
Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5.
“This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.”
So there you have it. Mitt Romney says he opposes sending jobs to China, and says he will "crack down" on China. But he refuses to do things that he could do right now that would make an actual difference right now. And it turns out that right now he is making big money from Sensata and other companies that are sending people's jobs to China right now.
Laying off American workers – usually shipping the jobs to China – and pocketing their wages for themselves is the story of the rise of the wealth of the 1%, and the decline of the American middle class. It is the Romney/Bain/Sensata business model. And the remaining workers have to do the jobs of the laid-off workers, often for lower pay, and are threatened with losing their jobs, too, if they don't like it.
Please read the entire New York Times report, As Romney Repeats Trade Message, Bain Maintains China Ties. There is much more there about Romney, China, Bain and the huge gap between what Romney says on the campaign trail, and how Romney made his current $450,000/week income and how Bain Capital still makes its money.
Visit the Bainport blog for pictures and details about the Sensata workers who are trying to stop the Bain trucks from shipping the equipment from the factory to China.