Workers residents have held protests to prevent vehicles shipping parts destined for China from Bain-owned company
At the age of 86 retired plumber Paul Holz has just been arrested for the first time in his long life.
Clutching an American flag, the elderly resident of Freeport, Illinois, was handcuffed by police outside a Sensata car parts plant which is shipping jobs to China and has become a national symbol for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs abroad.
"I am totally against outsourcing work from America. Jobs need to stay here, so I decided to go down and join the protests," he explained.
That decision ended in a trip to the local police station and a mugshot for the lifelong union supporter.
But Holz is far from alone. Workers, ex-workers and local residents have set up an encampment outside the gate. They have held protests, tried to deliver petitions and sought to prevent vehicles shipping out plant parts destined for China from leaving the site.
Because Sensata is majority owned by Bain Capital – the controversial former company run by Republican challenger Mitt Romney – the camp has been dubbed Bainport.
So far there have been more than 20 arrests, including this week veteran civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.
But Holz is no doubt the oldest to end up behind bars for seeking to keep the Sensata jobs in the town.
"I guess everyone is allowed one time to get arrested. But they did put on the cuffs a little tight," he said, though he added that police gave him back his American flag when he left the station.
"I got it back and when I went outside there was a little crowd and they cheered," he said.
What is happening at Freeport has also become a part of the 2012 election.
Romney still owns stock in Sensata and thus has benefited financially from cost-cutting in Freeport even as the Republican candidate has made a point of lambasting China and outsourcing jobs a key part of his election pitch.
As a result fired workers and those soon to lose their jobs have staked out Romney rallies and even travelled to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida.
Liberal cable TV channel MSNBC has regularly broadcast shows from Bainport and Reverend Al Sharpton has hosted a rally there.
The actions and publicity have rattled Sensata too.
Local officials and union organisers say that the company has this week threatened to close the plant early if the protests and civil disobedience continue.
"It was management's attempt to threaten and intimidate and scare the workers," said local union organiser Caleb Jennings.
"But the greater threat to them is their jobs going to China."
The move has prompted current workers to launch two official complaints with the National Labor Relations Board about the threat of early closure and also for increasing plant security and barring off-duty workers from entering the site.
An investigator from the NLRB is expected to arrive in Freeport on Monday.
Sensata has denied the allegations. "We believe the charges are without merit," the firm said in a memo posted on its website.
Joanne Penniston, 35, is a still current Sensata worker who has also been arrested during the protests.
So too has her daughter. Penniston said she was not afraid of the threat to shut down the plant early, potentially depriving the last remaining workers of a few weeks pay.
"It made me want to protest more after we got threatened. It is already shutting down, so they can take their scare tactics elsewhere.
We have a right to do what we are doing," she said. Penniston's current termination date for her job is 16 December. She has no idea what she will do after that date passes.
"There are no jobs here in Freeport. It's like a ghost town. Probably I will have to move," she said. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 hour ago.
At the age of 86 retired plumber Paul Holz has just been arrested for the first time in his long life.
Clutching an American flag, the elderly resident of Freeport, Illinois, was handcuffed by police outside a Sensata car parts plant which is shipping jobs to China and has become a national symbol for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs abroad.
"I am totally against outsourcing work from America. Jobs need to stay here, so I decided to go down and join the protests," he explained.
That decision ended in a trip to the local police station and a mugshot for the lifelong union supporter.
But Holz is far from alone. Workers, ex-workers and local residents have set up an encampment outside the gate. They have held protests, tried to deliver petitions and sought to prevent vehicles shipping out plant parts destined for China from leaving the site.
Because Sensata is majority owned by Bain Capital – the controversial former company run by Republican challenger Mitt Romney – the camp has been dubbed Bainport.
So far there have been more than 20 arrests, including this week veteran civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.
But Holz is no doubt the oldest to end up behind bars for seeking to keep the Sensata jobs in the town.
"I guess everyone is allowed one time to get arrested. But they did put on the cuffs a little tight," he said, though he added that police gave him back his American flag when he left the station.
"I got it back and when I went outside there was a little crowd and they cheered," he said.
What is happening at Freeport has also become a part of the 2012 election.
Romney still owns stock in Sensata and thus has benefited financially from cost-cutting in Freeport even as the Republican candidate has made a point of lambasting China and outsourcing jobs a key part of his election pitch.
As a result fired workers and those soon to lose their jobs have staked out Romney rallies and even travelled to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida.
Liberal cable TV channel MSNBC has regularly broadcast shows from Bainport and Reverend Al Sharpton has hosted a rally there.
The actions and publicity have rattled Sensata too.
Local officials and union organisers say that the company has this week threatened to close the plant early if the protests and civil disobedience continue.
"It was management's attempt to threaten and intimidate and scare the workers," said local union organiser Caleb Jennings.
"But the greater threat to them is their jobs going to China."
The move has prompted current workers to launch two official complaints with the National Labor Relations Board about the threat of early closure and also for increasing plant security and barring off-duty workers from entering the site.
An investigator from the NLRB is expected to arrive in Freeport on Monday.
Sensata has denied the allegations. "We believe the charges are without merit," the firm said in a memo posted on its website.
Joanne Penniston, 35, is a still current Sensata worker who has also been arrested during the protests.
So too has her daughter. Penniston said she was not afraid of the threat to shut down the plant early, potentially depriving the last remaining workers of a few weeks pay.
"It made me want to protest more after we got threatened. It is already shutting down, so they can take their scare tactics elsewhere.
We have a right to do what we are doing," she said. Penniston's current termination date for her job is 16 December. She has no idea what she will do after that date passes.
"There are no jobs here in Freeport. It's like a ghost town. Probably I will have to move," she said. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 hour ago.