Sensata Technologies: Protesters Arrested At Closing Of Plant That Has Become Rallying Point For Democrats

Sensata Technologies is set to close by the end of the year, but the Bain Capital-owned company will not go quietly into the night.

Workers upset that the jobs from the north central Illinois plant will be relocated to China have been protesting outside the company, and the closing itself has become a rallying point for Democrats, The Huffington Post reported.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney helped found Bain Capital, the company that owns Sensata Technologies, and several soon-to-be-unemployed workers have pleaded with the former Massachusetts governor to intervene and save their jobs. Meanwhile, many left-leaning blogs and newspapers have made Sensata Technologies a rallying cry, echoing a point Barack Obama raised in the second presidential debate that Romney is unlikely to be tough on China as president as he has gained so much financially by moving jobs there.

The protests against the closing of Sensata Technologies have intensified, with six protesters arrested Wednesday for a sit-in at the Freeport, Illinois, plant.

“They held their ground,” Tom Gaulrapp, a worker at Sensata Technologies told The Huffington Post. “Their commitment and dedication to our cause restores our faith and keeps us going … You see these people who are willing to get arrested [for you] and it’s absolutely amazing.”

The protesters were delivering to management a petition from the workers asking that they be given more than the 26 weeks of severance pay they said were offered, the Sun Chronicle reported.

A number of Sensata Technology workers have set up a protest encampment across the street from the plant. Known as “Bainport,” the area is referred to by protesters as the home of the “Romney economy.”