Laid-Off Workers At Bain-Owned Companies Slam Romney
Source: TPM
Employees at three companies that went bankrupt after being taken over by Bain Capital spoke at the Democratic convention on Wednesday, accusing Romneys firm of exploiting workers for profit.
President Obama has spent months attacking Romneys business career, which the Republican nominee has put at the top of his political resume, using stories from the companies whose laid-off workers were represented onstage.
The most dramatic tale came from Randy Johnson, a former worker at Bain-owned Ampad in the 1990s, who described how the private equity group took over the company, fired its workers, then invited them to reapply for jobs with lower benefits.
What affected me most was having guys the age I am now come to my desk, and cry; guys who had nothing to fall back on, Johnson said.
Read more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/laid-off-workers-at-bain-owned-companies-slam-romney.php
valerief
(53,235 posts)KT2000
(20,605 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)http://www.realromneyrecord.com/cases/gst-steel
In 1993, Romneys Bain Capital purchased a steel company and renamed it GS Technologies. To gain control of the company, Bain put up $8 million and quickly had the company take on new debt in order to distribute dividends back to Bain and cover new expenses helping Bain earn back part of its initial investment.
In 1995, Romneys Bain had GS acquire another firm, adding over a hundred million in new debt. By then, Bain had forced the company to hold $378 million in debt, which was ten times the annual income of the company and the company was not on a sustainable course.
At the same time, Romneys firm was ordering changes that undermined safety and productivity at the company and installing people who knew little about the steel industry. A worker remarked, When Romney and Bain came in, it was painfully obvious that they didnt have a clue about anything to do with a steel mill.
From 1997 to 1999, losses at the company increased by 300% and it was clear the company could not survive.
cbrer
(1,831 posts)This destroyer. This rapist. This sociopath.