Workers at Bain-Owned Sensata File Unfair Labor Practices Charges
Source: In These Times
This morning, workers filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices at Sensata Technologies, a car-sensor manufacturer owned by Bain Capital (which Mitt Romney founded). The charges come after the Freeport, Ill. company threatened to close the plant immediately--two months ahead of schedule--if employees continued to rally against the outsourcing of their jobs to China.
The workers filed two charges with the NLRB: one over Sensata's threat to shut the plant down early, the other accusing the company of “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."
The employees received the shut-down threat Tuesday via the Freeport Police--Sensata management asked the police to relay the message rather than communicate with workers directly. The workers were told that the plant, which is scheduled to close its doors this December after 170 jobs and equipment are shipped to the new plant in China, would be shut down early if protests continue. Demonstrators, some of whom have worked there more than 40 years and will receive only 26 weeks of severance pay, were incensed. In a press release from organizers at Bainport (the county fairgrounds across the street from Sensata that has been converted into a protest camp), Joanne Penniston says:
Not only are they shipping our jobs to China, they are also trying to take away our rights as American workers. We are not going to be intimidated. We are going to stand up for our rights and our jobs.
Read more: http://inthesetimes.com/ittlist/entry/14077/bain_owned_sensata_faces_charges_of_unfair_labor_practices/
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