Sensata

Romney Willing to Win Without Honor

Leo Gerard — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 09:39:03 -0400

Mitt Romney kept quiet last week when the subject was rape and God’s will. He remained silent the week before when the news was all about Illinois factory workers pleading with him to stop his alma mater Bain Capital from offshoring their jobs.

At no time this year did Mitt denounce Republican employers who threatened their workers if President Obama is re-elected or condemn repeated Republican legislative attempts to suppress Democratic votes.

Throughout the campaign, Mitt Romney confronted numerous George Washington moments -- opportunities to establish an aura of honor. It takes moxie to tell fellow Republicans that voter suppression is un-American. Only a guy with strongly held principles would stand up to the firm he founded and insist they stop the morally bankrupt practice of offshoring jobs from profit-making American factories. At every turn, Romney chose the ignoble path. He kept his mouth shut rather than speak up for what’s right.

Just last week, an opportunity for righteousness landed in Romney’s lap. It happened when the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Indiana, Richard E. Mourdock, said he opposed all abortions, even in cases of rape, and suggested that God intends rape to happen. Here’s what Mourdock said:

“Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it is something that God intended to happen.”

Romney could have specifically renounced this view – that God intends women to be raped and become pregnant as a result. And he could have underscored that position by ending television ads in which he endorses Mourdock.

But he didn’t. A campaign spokeswoman said Mitt “disagreed” with Mourdock on that rape thing, but still supports him. Since then, Mitt has refused to answer questions about Mourdock. And he’s kept airing his Mourdock endorsement ads.

Clearly, Mitt values a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate over a decent stand on rape.

Just the week before, heightened news coverage of the plight of workers at the Sensata factory in Freeport, Ill. gave Romney another opportunity to do the right thing.

He chose to do nothing.

The 170 workers at Sensata will lose their jobs at year’s end when Bain Capital finishes shipping the car sensor factory lock, stock and machinery to China. The workers have repeatedly petitioned Romney to intervene with Bain, a firm he created and still profits from, to stop the offshoring.

Romney stiffed them. The candidate who claims he would create 12 million jobs if elected president failed to make an attempt to save the jobs of these 170 workers at a successful, money-making American factory. He didn’t send the workers his condolences for personally profiting from their calamity. He has never even acknowledged the Sensata workers’ existence.

At virtually any moment as he ran for president over the past two years, Romney could have very publically deplored Republican attempts to suppress Democratic votes. That’s because virtually continuously over that time, Republican-controlled legislatures, Republican governors and other GOP officials have concocted a variety of measures to wrest from Democrats their right to vote. These include passing onerous photo ID requirements, limiting early balloting and aggressively purging voter rolls.

These measures disproportionately affect minority, poor, disabled, elderly and women voters, all of whom tend to vote Democrat. Among the most egregious examples occurred in Ohio where the secretary of state tried to limit poll hours in Democratic-dominated counties and extend them in Republican-controlled counties.

At any time during the massive publicity over any one of these incidents across the country – from Maine to Montana and Florida to Arizona – Romney could have stood up and spoken for fairness. He never did – not even after the Republican National Committee was forced to fire a shady voter registration firm that was caught in September submitting hundreds of fraudulent registration forms in Florida or after a Republican operative in Virginia was criminally charged in October with throwing completed voter registration forms in a Dumpster.

A simple statement from Romney would have sufficed: winning by means of voter suppression and registration fraud is craven and beneath the dignity of anyone seeking public office. But he said nothing.

Similar to voter suppression is the attempt at voter coercion that has been made by numerous employers this year. Just this past week, Mike White, owner of Rite-Hite, a Milwaukee industrial equipment manufacturer, threatened his workers with “personal consequences” if President Obama is re-elected. Earlier this month, timeshare mogul David Siegel, who is building himself a 90,000-square-foot, $100 million home, threatened to lay off his workers if President Obama is re-elected. Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions and the Koch brothers of Georgia Pacific, told their tens of thousands of workers they’d suffer fallout if Romney loses.

Romney could have acted as a shield for workers by condemning this intimidation. Instead, in a June conference call with business owners, Romney encouraged bullying. He told the business owners:

"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.”

What Americans want is a president like George Washington. The general’s appeal is not the quirky wooden teeth or odd half-finished portrait. It’s the never-tell-a-lie, step-down-from-power nobility of the guy. Romney, by contrast, has shown he’s willing to win without honor. He doesn’t seem to know Americans won’t elect a candidate they believe lacks nobility.

More Arrests At #Sensata Factory That Is Moving Jobs To China

Dave Johnson — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:16:06 -0400

Today there were six more arrests at the Sensata factory in Freeport, IL as people hold sit-ins and try to block trucks moving equipment out for shipment to China.

What Is Sensata?

Sensata is a company that makes sensors for the automobile industry. In modern computerized cars sophisticated sensors are a key technology. Sensata is closing their Freeport, IL factory and moving all the equipment and jobs to China. The workers have to train their Chinese replacements or lose severance and unemployment benefits. The moving of equipment and closing of the plant is scheduled for the end of this year.

Romney and Bain

Bain Capital -- the company that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney started -- owns 51% of Sensata. Romney no longer runs the company, but retains significant investments, including chunks of the Bain funds that own Sensata.

According to a Washington Post report, Romney’s Bain Capital invested in companies that moved jobs overseas, Mitt Romney and Bain Capital "pioneered" outsourcing strategies. They invested in companies set up to help other companies send jobs to China, and they especially used offshoring in their strategies to avoid paying the taxes that enable We, the People to have good schools, roads, courts etc. From the report,

Mitt Romney’s financial company, Bain Capital, invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India.

During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, a private equity firm that he founded, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Happening Now

So Sensata is closing a profitable factory in Freeport, IL, laying off the American workers and shipping the equipment to China. The workers and supporters have set up a tent camp across from the factory and have named it Bainport. Supporters of the workers are trying to block the Bain trucks that are moving the equipment out for shipment to China.

This is all happening right now, in the middle of the election campaign. On the campaign trail Romney says we shouldn't ship jobs to China and should "crack down" on China trade problems. So the workers have asked Romney to demonstrate that he means what he says and come to Freeport to help them.

Mitt Romney is not running Bain Capital anymore. (He still makes millions from the company, and gets checks from the profits made when they ship jobs to China). So this is a tremendous opportunity for him. Can you imagine a better spokesman for the Bainport employees than the former head of Bain Capital, who now says he opposes the kinds of things that Bain Capital is doing here? How powerful would it be for Romney, if he did this -- if he demonstrated that he really means what he says about China.

But so far Romney refuses to help the Sensata workers.

Arrests

This morning there was a sit-in in the lobby of the Sensata factory. Six people were arrested. The people arrested include JoAnn Matthews, mother of Sensata worker Mary Jo Kerr; 82-year-old community supporter Paul Holz; and Kathy Hoyer, who worked at Sensata for two decades before being laid off earlier this year, and her son.

Last week, three community members—including the daughter of a Sensata worker—were arrested for blocking trucks removing equipment from the plant.

The Corrupt Bargain

Sensors are a strategic chokepoint in the auto-manufacturing supply chain. China wants to control the auto industry (like so many other industries), so controlling a key strategic chokepoint like sensors is a big win for them. To get this control they offer up all kinds of special subsidies and incentives, and of course that includes packaging up a bundle of low-wage workers. The trade-off is that owners of a company like Sensata get really wealthy (wealthier) by moving the factory to China, but Freeport and America lose the jobs, factory and industry. And we all lose our ability to make a living in the future.

But the owners of Sensata get even wealthier from the deal. Here is the corrupt bargain: China makes out well, the wealthy few who turn our manufacturing capacity over to China make out well, the rest of us lose everything.

More Info

Please visit Bainport.com tofollow events as they happen. Also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Visit The Bain Of Our Existence, a central point for updates on stories about Bain Capital.

Here Is What Is Happening With #Sensata

Dave Johnson — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:55:18 -0400

Uppdate -- See More Arrests At #Sensata Factory That Is Moving Jobs To China then come back for details.

If you are hearing about a company names Sensata, here is the story. Right now this company is moving equipment out of a factory in Freeport, Il. and shipping it to China. They are making the workers there train their Chinese replacements. And the end of the year they are laying off the American workers. The workers have set up a camp across from the factory and have named it Bainport. (please click!) Supporters are trying to block the trucks, and some have been arrested. This is all happening right now, even as Mitt Romney says he wants to "get tough on China." So the workers have asked Romney to come to Freeport and help them.

"The week before they came they took the American flag down outside the plant. The week after they left they put it back up."

See Wendi Kent's moving photos of the Bainport camp, where workers are asking Romney to hep them:

Bainport, Illinois Pt.1

Bainport, Illinois Pt.2- Profits Over People

What's Going On?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney started the "private equity" firm Bain Capital. Bain Capital makes its money by purchasing companies using "leveraged buyouts" that borrow huge sums using the purchased company's own assets as collateral. They often use part of the borrowed money to immediately pay itself. Bain 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. (Please see So DID Mitt Romney Really "Create Jobs" At Staples? for a look at how this works.) Then, after reorganizing the purchased companies Bain "harvests" them for profit. ("Harvest" is Romney's word, watch the linked video.)

Bain Capital purchased a sensor manufacturer that makes key components for our automobile supply chain, and named it Sensata. They immediately announced they closing a factory in Freeport, Ill., and sending the manufacturing and jobs to China to save money. (This is significant because 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 have asked Romney 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.

Romney's Opportunity

Mitt Romney is not running Bain Capital anymore. While he still makes millions from the company, and gets checks from the profits made when they ship jobs to China), this is a tremendous opportunity for him. Can you imagine a better spokesman for the Bainport employees than the former head of Bain Capital, who now says he opposes the kinds of things that Bain Capital is doing here?

This is an opportunity for Romney to show the public that he actually means it when he says he wants to do something about companies sending jobs to China! Here is his former company, people who know him, sending jobs to China right now and there is no one in a better position to put pressure on them to stop this than the former head of the company, and on top of that a presidential candidate!

What an opportunity for Romney to show that he means what he says!

Will Romney Help?

Mitt Romney wants to be President, and polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants something done about 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.

PS - SNL

Here is SNL addressing the disparity between how Chinese workers are treated (because they don't have a say) and American expectations:

For More On Sensata

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

You Should Know About Sensata - It's What The Election Is About

Election Or Not, What Happens To Sensata-Style Workers?

Blocking Bain Trucks To Save Jobs In Freeport – This Is An IMPORTANT Story

Breaking – Arrests At Sensata "Bainport" Camp

Paul Harris at The Guardian: 'I'm sick to my stomach': anger grows in Illinois at Bain's latest outsourcing plan

Also, see:

Bain Of Our Existence - Go-To place for stories and info about Bain Capital.

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos: Mitt Romney profits as Bain sends American jobs to China PLUS a Daily Kos campaign:
Send a message of support to the Sensata workers as they fight to keep their jobs and shine a light on what a Romney economy would look like.

Unraveling The Romney/Bain Tax Story,

Romney, Jobs And China – Let's Connect Dots

Rights Report Describes Romney-Owned "Brutal Chinese Sweatshop"

Romney, Republicans Again Side With China Over US Companies

Ohio And China – One Side Promises While The Other Delivers

China Is Very "Business-Friendly"

Will Conservatives Support American Companies ... Or Chinese?

Ohio And China -- One Side Promises While The Other Delivers

Here is a Democracy Now! report:

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

Dave Johnson — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:17:14 -0400

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 $400,000/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.)

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:

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.

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 $400,000/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.

More On Sensata

You Should Know About Sensata - It's What The Election Is About

Election Or Not, What Happens To Sensata-Style Workers?

Blocking Bain Trucks To Save Jobs In Freeport – This Is An IMPORTANT Story

Breaking – Arrests At Sensata "Bainport" Camp

Also, see:

Bain Of Our Existence - Go-To place for stories and info about Bain Capital.

Unraveling The Romney/Bain Tax Story,

Romney, Jobs And China – Let's Connect Dots

Rights Report Describes Romney-Owned "Brutal Chinese Sweatshop"

Romney, Republicans Again Side With China Over US Companies

Ohio And China – One Side Promises While The Other Delivers

Update: Here is a Democracy Now! report:

Arrests At Sensata "Bainport" Camp

Dave Johnson — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:48:35 -0400

Sensata is a Bain-owned company that is closing a factory in in Freeport, Il to move the jobs to China. The workers have set up a camp they call "Bainport" and workers and supporters are trying to block the Bain trucks that are moving equipment out to ship to China right now. In breaking news there were arrests made today.

Last week in the post Blocking Bain Trucks To Save Jobs In Freeport -- This Is An IMPORTANT Story I wrote about the Sensata workers in Freeport who have set up a camp they call Bainport, and are asking Mitt Romney to show that he means what he is saying about cracking down on China by coming to Freeport and asking his former company not to send these jobs to China.

The Sensata workers camping at Bainport as asking Mitt Romney to come help them keep their jobs. Romney insists that he has nothing to do with Bain Capital anymore (his tax returns showed that he gets more than $400,000 a week from Bain investments).

Helping the Sensata workers would show that he means it when he says he has nothing to do with the things Bain does now, and that he will do something about the jobs being sent to China. What better opportunity to prove both than to show up and confront Bain for sending these jobs to China!

Romney, Bain And The Outsourcing Strategy

Mitt Romney and Bain "pioneered" outsourcing strategies. They invested in companies set up to help other companies send jobs to China, and they especially used offshoring in their strategies to avoid paying the taxes that enable We, the People to have good schools, roads, courts etc. The NY Times story, Offshore Tactics Helped Increase Romneys’ Wealth explained,

Some of the offshore entities enabled Bain-owned companies to sidestep certain taxes, increasing returns for Mr. Romney and other investors. Others helped Bain attract foreign investors and nonprofit institutions by insulating them from taxes, again augmenting Mr. Romney’s bottom line, since he shared in management fees based on the size of each Bain fund.

In Unraveling The Romney/Bain Tax Story I explained how it works,

The complicated story of how the 1%ers and their corporations evade democracy's taxes is the story of our crumbling schools and infrastructure and the flow of all the gains of our economy to a very few at the top. This tax evasion is also part of the story of our deficits and debt. The tax evasion is "legal" -- because the tax evaders pay the people who write the tax laws. And even as their tax evasion adds to our budget deficits and debt, the 1%ers are insisting we close the deficit by cutting Social Security, Medicare and "safety-net" programs!

[. . .] The American-based entities can buy American companies without incurring "foreign-based" obligations. Then the foreign-based entities can avoid the taxes that the American-based buyers of companies would have to pay. And the foreign-based investors can be in the foreign-based parts of the company, avoiding US tax obligations. Also American entities like pension funds can avoid US taxes they would otherwise have to pay.

To put it another way, the same company can pretend it is US-based when that is what it needs to be, and foreign-based when that is what it needs to be.

Mitt Romney is wealthy because he engaged in strategies to lay people off, sending their jobs to China and pocketing the wage differential for himself. Then his companies would force people to take wage cuts or risk losing their jobs, too, and pocking the wage difference for himself. The profits from these "enterprises" were manipulated in ways that enabled him to pay very little in taxes, so the rest of us end up not only with layoffs and lower wages, but bad schools, crumbling infrastructure and government debt.

Then later, Mitt Romney can claim that We the People are the cause of the resulting government debt and that we need "austerity" -- less for We, the People in order to keep taxes low.

Arrests

Today community members supporting the Sensata workers were arrested for trying to block Bain trucks from sending the factory's equipment to China.

Visit the Bainport blog for pictures and details.

Blocking Bain Trucks To Save Jobs In Freeport -- This Is An IMPORTANT Story

Dave Johnson — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:03:12 -0400

There is a real-life story playing out in real time in Freeport, Illinois, which is west of Chicago. Bain Capital is closing a Sensata factory there, to move the jobs and work to China. The workers are camped out in a tent city they have named "Bainport." They are asking Mitt Romney to show that he means what he says about jobs and China by helping them keep their jobs. Right now the Sensata workers are blocking trucks brought in to ship the equipment to China. This is an important story because it tells the story of our economy's loss of jobs and factories and the resulting downward wage pressure. It is also the story of how a very few people are enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

Blocking Trucks

WIFR.com: 'Bainport' Blocks Equipment Removal,

Members of the “Bainport” tent community say two trucks pulled into the factory lot around 6 this morning to begin removing machinery from the building, and sending it over to China.

Once the truck pulled in, about a dozen members from “Bainport” and other supporters from the outside community blocked the entrance so cargo could not go in or out.

The Freeport Journal Standard: Sensata workers protest as ‘time runs out’, (emphasis added, for emphasis)

“We saw them bringing in trucks to remove the equipment,” said Sensata employee Tom Gaulrapp. “We are going to try and stop them. We are more and more desperate as time runs out. We’ll do whatever we have to at this point.”

Police were called to the scene as protestors had said they would block the trucks from leaving. As of press time, protestors had complied with police and no arrests had been made.

... “We hope that the next company that decides to outsource jobs will think twice and look at what we’re doing here,” said Gaulrapp. “We want a place where our kids can get good jobs and be able to stay here in Freeport. It rips up the town and it rips up families.”

Asking Romney For Help

The Sensata workers camping at Bainport as asking Mitt Romney to come help them keep their jobs. Romney insists that he has nothing to do with Bain Capital anymore (his tax returns showed that he gets more than $400,000 a week from Bain investments).

Helping the Sensata workers would show that he means it when he says he has nothing to do with the things Bain does now, and that he will do something about the jobs being sent to China. What better opportunity to prove both than to show up and confront Bain for sending these jobs to China!

When asked about this, the Romney campaign responded,

"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.

See also Ryan Grimm and Dave Jamieson at Huffington Post, Mitt Romney Gets Tax Break Off Firm Sending Jobs To China,

While the workers and the town may suffer, Romney himself has done well as a result of Bain's work with the company. According to his recently released 2011 tax returns, Romney transferred $701,703 worth of Sensata stock to the Tyler Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit controlled by Romney. The gift is listed on page 323 of the pdf, on form 8283 (below).

Moving the stock to his nonprofit brings Romney twin benefits. First, he gets to deduct the full value of the stock. At a 35 percent tax rate, that's nearly a $250,000 benefit. At 15 percent, it's just over $100,000.

Second, Romney is able to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the stock price increase. Romney's returns list no cost for the stock, and indicate he obtained them as part of a partnership interest in Bain. Avoiding capital gains taxes on the full increase would save an additional $100,000. In 2010, Romney gifted $170,000 worth of Sensata stock to his charity, saving $25,000 in capital gains taxes that year.

Cheryl Randecker, a Sensata worker facing an imminent layoff, said, "I could pay off my house with that [$25,000], and he doesn't need it anyway."

... Rebecca Wilkins, an attorney with Citizens for Tax Justice, said that Romney's move is a prime example of the way that the super-wealthy are able to game the charitable deduction while still holding on to their money.

The Harvest

This video is titled "Romney's latest harvest" based on the "harvest" video, in which Romney described Bain's strategy to "harvest" companies for profit:

OLB Spends an Evening at Bainport from Occupy Riverwest on Vimeo.

See And Read

You can see striking and wonderful photos of the people and their camp in this Daily Kos diary by "noise of rain," The Faces of Outsourcing: Bainport's Tent-City Protest in Pictures,

Sensata is owned by Bain Capital which was co-founded and previously run by U.S. Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Recently, a video has come to light in which Romney explains the business model he created for Bain Capital and states their purpose is to buy companies and “hopefully, five to eight years later, to harvest them at a significant profit,”. In January 2011, Bain Capital announced they would be outsourcing over 170 jobs from this plant as well as all equipment, to China. Romney, still owning stock in Bain, stands to profit quite a bit from this move.

You can read about Bainport at bainport.com,

We're workers at Bain Capital-owned Sensata, 2520 Walnut St, Freeport, Illinois. We're fighting to save our jobs from being shipped to China by the end of this year. We are calling on Mitt Romney to come to Freeport, IL and we will camp across the street from our plant for as long as it takes!

Help spread the word, this is an important story!

Election Or Not, What Happens To Sensata-Style Workers?

Dave Johnson — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:48:46 -0400

A group of workers whose jobs are being outsourced to China is touring the "rust belt." They are trying to make an election point. But what about the day after the election?

Sensata Workers - More Jobs Going To China

Two weeks ago I wrote about the workers at the Sensata factory, You Should Know About Sensata - It's What The Election Is About,

Workers facing outsourcing by Bain Capital are camping outside the Sensata factory in Freeport, Ill. They are asking Mitt Romney to show up and help save their jobs. They say they will stay camped there until Romney shows up and stands with them – or with Bain.

Mitt Romney can can use this to show us if he wants to be president of the whole United States, or just president of, by and for the outsourcing 1 percenters.

All Mitt has to do is show up and help these workers. He says he is not part of Bain, and wants to be President of all of the country. Mitt Romney can can use this to show us if he wants to be president of the whole United States, or just president of, by and for the outsourcing 1 percenters. He could - and should - do that.

The Bain Workers Bus Tour

Workers from Sensata have left Missouri and are stopping in are stopping in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, the presidential debate in Hempstead, NY -- and are (eventually) heading toward Boston where both Bain Capital and the Romney headquarters are located.They want Romney and Bain to ask them not to send their jobs to China. You can read about their progress at BainWorkerBus.com.

The thing is, these workers might be at this plant, run by this company, but there are millions of workers - millions - in the same boat. Or whose jobs have left or are leaving on the same boat, anyway.

The Chart That Says It All

It is more than just these Sensata workers -- they are a symbol of the damage that our terrible "trade" policies have done and are doing to our country. A company can just close a factory here, open it there, bring the same stuff back to sell in the same stores here and call that "trade?" And they can get tax breaks for doing that? They can use the threat of doing that to bust unions and cut our wages? Polls show that We, the People overwhelmingly want this changed, yet it doesn't change.

Look at the chart in this post at Think Progress: After Nearly A Decade Of Declines, Manufacturing Jobs Begin Rebound. It shows what happened to our manufacturing base literally immediately after George 'W' Bush took office. Seriously. Look at this chart and see if you can just guess why we have such a terrible economy today.

During the 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...) We have a huge trade deficit with China -- money that we send to China and then complain that there is not enough money to do things here.

Imagine how our economy would be doing if we had actual trade with China, where we buy things from them and they buy just as many things from us?

After The Election

After the election the country is going to be diverted into a battle over how much more damage we can do to ourselves. Instead of addressing the trade deficit -- the cause of our budget and jobs deficit -- our plutocrat-funded elites are going to play a Shock Doctrine game of whipping up hysteria about the budget deficit. They are going to terrify the public about "the fiscal cliff" that occurs when the Bush tax cuts expire, and when the deal that put off the hostage-taking over the debt ceiling cuts the military budget, and then the safety net.

Instead of addressing jobs and inequality and wage stagnation and trade and climate and crumbling infrastructure and manufacturing policy and, and, and, they are going to all try to outdo each other offering ways to cut the things that We, the People do for each other -- all to keep taxes low for the super-wealthy. Some call this the "Grand Bargain" where they offer up austerity -- working so well in Europe -- instead of jobs.

Bob Borosage wrote about an alternative approach. Since Jobs Fix Deficits, let's wait on attacking the budget deficit until there are enough jobs. He calls this a "Jobs Trigger" - enough jobs triggers the time to cut the deficit. From Good Jobs First: No Grand Bargain Without A Jobs Trigger,

Poll after poll shows that voters are concerned most of all about jobs and the economy. Yet in Washington and on the campaign trail, attention has turned to deficits and how to get our books in order.

[. . .] The presidential candidates and Congress should be pressed to adopt a budget version of the “jobs trigger.” Putting people back to work is the first step to getting our books in order. So Congress should pass a fiscal trigger as part of any grand bargain: Comprehensive deficit reduction measures will kick in only when the economy is moving, and unemployment comes down to 5 percent or so.

Please go read the whole post, We must all demand a jobs trigger after the election. Jobs first, then fix the deficits.

And to fix jobs, we have to fix "trade." We have to stop this idea that it is OK to close a factory here, open it there, then send the same goods back here to sell in the same stores, and use the threat of doing that to even more of us to force wage and benefit cuts, bust unions, etc.

Romney Loves American Cars; Obama Loves American Car Workers

Leo Gerard — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:17:49 -0400

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, son of an American Motors CEO, naturally says he loves American cars. His wife, as he put it, “drives a couple of Cadillacs.” He’s installing an elevator in his beach mansion just for his cars. Though a millionaire, he rejected flying his five sons to a vacation destination, instead packing them into a car, then strapping their dog Seamus’ carrier to the car roof for a ride that, shall we say, challenged the canine’s intestinal fortitude.

President Barack Obama, by contrast, has given some love to American car companies and American car workers. He rescued Chrysler and General Motors, preserving the American icon companies and hundreds of thousands of American car manufacturing jobs. He imposed sanctions on Chinese tires that received improper export subsidies, a move that saved thousands of U.S. tire-building jobs. And now he’s challenging illegally-subsidized Chinese auto parts to sustain American companies and workers.

Romney has blasted Obama every auto-manufacturing-job-preserving step of the way. On the auto bailout, Romney admonished, “Let Detroit go bankrupt.” He condemned the tariffs on Chinese tires. Romney claims he loves American cars. But the actions of his private equity firm, Bain Capital, in buying companies that were “pioneers” in offshoring American jobs, suggest he’s fine with American firms making cars and car parts overseas. Obama, by contrast, took the action necessary to ensure American cars are made in America by American companies employing American workers.

Here’s what Romney actually said about his adoration for cars:

“I love cars. I love American cars. And long may they rule the world.”

When it came to helping them continue to rule the world, however, Romney dissed Detroit.

President Obama embraced Detroit. He took money from the Wall Street bailout fund and used it to help GM and Chrysler continue to rule the world. GM regained the title of world’s largest car company in January and hundreds of thousands of auto and auto part manufacturing workers retained their jobs.

Similarly, in September of 2009, President Obama imposed duties on unfairly traded Chinese tires. My union, the United Steelworkers (USW), filed the trade case that led to those duties. The sanctions saved thousands of tire-making jobs in the United States and contributed to creation of 1,000 more.

Earlier this year, the USW, the Alliance for American Manufacturing and 189 members of Congress urged Obama to take yet another trade action, this one to protect American auto parts manufacturers and their workers. The request followed publication of four reports detailing China’s illegal export subsidies to its auto parts sector. Nations may subsidize manufacturing for internal consumption, but international law prohibits subsidizing products to be exported because it distorts the market, causing the bankruptcy of manufacturers in countries where the artificially cheap products are sold.

The auto parts complaint says that forbidden export subsidies, including cash grants, preferential tax treatment and other perks valued at $1 billion over the past three years enabled China to jump from 16^th largest producer of auto parts in 2002, when it exported $7 billion in parts, to 5^th largest last year when it exported $70 billion.

The upshot is that imports of auto parts from China increased seven fold, contributing to the loss of nearly half of all U.S. auto parts jobs – 400,000 – since 2000. An example is Olymco, Inc. a Canton, Ohio, metal-plating company where 100 workers, members of the USW, once made auto parts. Now, mainly as a result of subsidized Chinese competition, only 11 workers remain.

The predatory Chinese practices encourage U.S. auto parts makers to offshore manufacturing, and now some of the largest U.S. auto parts companies produce in China.

Sensata, a car parts manufacturer in Freeport, Ill. is among those on the way to China. The 145 workers in Freeport, who make sensors and controls, are training their Chinese replacements.

These workers may return to China to join many there who are packed into dormitories that rival turn of the 20^th Century U.S. tenements for slum conditions. Romney described workers in a Chinese appliance factory he visited:

“working, working, working as hard as they could, at rates of roughly 50 cents an hour. They cared about their jobs; they wouldn’t even look up as we walked by.”

That’s right. These exploited workers kept their heads down. These 50-cent-an-hour laborers feared they’d be fired for the audacity of looking at a quarter billionaire American visitor.

Sensata is owned by Bain Capital, the company Romney founded in 1984, the private equity firm that Romney claims he left in 1999, even though it continued to pay him millions for a decade afterward. The workers at Sensata have publically begged Romney to intervene with Bain on their behalf to keep the factory in the United States. They’ve collected 35,000 signatures supporting their cause. They’ve got the backing of the Freeport City Council, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. They’re camping outside the factory in a tent city called Bainport. But Romney hasn’t responded. No word from the candidate who claims to love American cars.

He loves owning ‘em. He relishes riding them up and down on elevators. But when it comes to showing a little love for car businesses and car workers, Romney’s frigid. Just ask the workers cooling their heels at Bainport.

The auto parts case is Obama’s ninth trade action against China. The Washington Post wrote:

“The Obama administration has steadily amped up its enforcement actions against China at the WTO.”

Obama has repeatedly confronted countries whose illegal trade practices threaten American companies and workers, filing twice as many cases in one term as Bush did in two. He has tangibly demonstrated his love for American cars and American car workers.

You Should Know About Sensata - It's What The Election Is About

Dave Johnson — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:30:58 -0400

Workers facing outsourcing by Bain Capital are camping outside the Sensata factory in Freeport, Ill. They are asking Mitt Romney to show up and help save their jobs. They say they will stay camped there until Romney shows up and stands with them – or with Bain.

Mitt Romney can can use this to show us if he wants to be president of the whole United States, or just president of, by and for the outsourcing 1 percenters.

Sensata

The private equity firm Bain Capital put together Sensata Technologies in 2006 to make and sell sensors and controls to car makers and other manufacturers. The company is closing the Freeport, Ill. plant and outsourcing the 165 jobs to China. The workers have to train their Chinese replacements before they are laid off.

Sensata is making plenty of money. According to the company's website:

Second quarter 2012 net revenue was a record $504.6 million, an increase of 10.9% from the second quarter 2011 net revenue of $455.0 million.
Second quarter 2012 net income was $26.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, versus second quarter 2011 net (loss) of $(34.6) million, or $(0.20) per diluted share.
Second quarter 2012 Adjusted net income1 was a record $97.5 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, versus second quarter 2011 Adjusted net income1 of $92.2 million, or $0.51 per diluted share.

Sensata explains that Chinese workers cost less.

Mitt Romney started Bain Capital in 1984. He left the company in 1999, or 2000, or 2001, or 2002, or later, or earlier, depending on which year is best. In 2012 he is clearly no longer with Bain, while receiving only approximately $440,000 a week from the company.

Efforts To Get Sensata To Reconsider

The Freeport, Ill., City Council unanimously passed a resolution on July 16 asking
Romney to come and help save the workers' jobs.

Two Republican members of Congress, Don Manzullo, R-Ill., and Bobby Schilling, R-Ill., sent a letter to Sensata's CEO asking him to keep the jobs in Freeport. Manzullo is a co-sponsor of the House "currency" bill, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (H.R. 639) that would crack down on China's currency manipulation. Though he is a co-sponsor, Manzullo refuses to sign a discharge petition that would bring the bill to the floor for an actual vote.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) has joined workers in asking Romney to show up and help.

Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn has visited the workers in Freeport, and asks Congress to pass the Bring Jobs Home Act. The Bring Jobs Home Act would eliminate the tax breaks that encourage companies like Bain and Sensata to close factories here and send the jobs and the work to countries like China, with the cash stopping off in the Cayman Islands for a quick tax cleansing. The Bring Jobs Home Act was recently filibustered by Senate Republicans.

Sensata workers collected 35,000 petition signatures, asking Romney to come to Freeport to help save the workers' jobs. This video shows what happened when they tried to deliver these petitions and a letter at a Romney campaign office in Madison. Instead of accepting the letter and petitions, the campaign locked them out and called the police.

President Of All Of US Or President Of 1 Percent?

Many Americans are asking, if elected, will Romney be the pPresident of the United States or really just the president of, by and for the 1 percent? Visiting the camp at "Bainport" and helping the workers keep their jobs would give Romney a chance to distance himself from the outsourcing and "vulture capitalism" practices of his former company, making a break and standing with the rest of the country, by asking Sensata not to ship these jobs to China.

Appearing to support manufacturing workers like those at Sensata, Romney is running a new ad saying President Obama is killing manufacturing jobs.

But if you watch the ad, it is actually describing conditions under President Bush, and trying to make viewers think this happened under President Obama. Visiting the Sensata workers and helping them in their struggle with the company and Bain would give Romney an opportunity to clear this up.

The ad criticized President Obama for not cracking down in Chinese currency manipulation. Like Rep. Manzullo, Romney also says he supports cracking down on Chinese currency manipulation but has not called on House Republicans to bring this bill to the floor for an actual vote. See previous posts on this, Romney Etch-A-Sketching On China Currency, Romney On China: Talks The Talk, Will He Walk The Walk? and China Currency Fight In Congress.

Greetings From Bainport, Illinois

The workers campaign in Freeport, Ill., are calling their camp "Bainport." They have a website, Greetings from Bainport, Illinois. Take a look, there are lots of great pictures.

From the website:

We're workers at Bain Capital-owned Sensata in Freeport, Illinois. We're fighting to save our jobs from being shipped to China by the end of this year.

Sign our petition here.

I support the Sensata workers and their call on Mitt Romney to come and save their jobs from being shipped to China. I commend and support their efforts to save their jobs and encourage them to keep it up the fight until Mitt Romney visits the workers in Freeport, Illinois.

Let's see of we can get Mitt Romney to show up at Freeport, Ill. and help these workers.

You can stand with the Senstata workers fighting outsourcing by sending them a pizza. Call Logan's Bar & Grill at (815) 232-4592. Tell them it's for the Senstata workers camping out and they'll make sure the food gets to them.