Huffington Post: Laid-Off Sensata Employee To Attend SOTU

By Preston Maddock
February 11, 2013

A laid-off employee from a company owned by Bain Capital will join Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) as her guest at the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Dot Turner was one of 170 workers at Sensata Technologies' Freeport, Ill., plant who had their jobs offshored to China last year. Turner had worked at the plant for 43 years.

"I hope that President Obama lays out a plan that prioritizes creating good-paying jobs here at home and I look forward to continuing to support American workers like Dot and all those who lost their jobs at Sensata," said Bustos in a statement.

A company that makes sensors and controls used in aircraft and automobiles, Sensata came to national prominence during the 2012 presidential election. Workers at the Freeport plant tried to convince GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who had co-founded Bain Capital, to step in and try to stop the offshoring of their jobs. They even set up a camp outside the factory that they called "Bainport."

Romney repeatedly declined to comment on or intervene with his former colleagues for Sensata during the campaign.