Bain Workers Speak out against Failed Romney-Bain Economic Vision

Bain Workers Speak Out Against Failed Romney-Bain Economic Vision before Heading to RNC Convention

Local employees share personal struggles at Bain-owned companies, joined by city councilors, faith leaders and 150+ community members at Dorchester send-off

DORCHESTER   – More than 150 community members joined local elected officials and faith leaders last week at a send-off event for Boston-area workers headed to the Republican National Convention. The delegation, made up of current and former employees of Bain-owned companies, shared their personal struggles with slashed pay and benefits, reduced hours, off-the-clock work and outright wage theft. Like outsourcing and offshoring, the issues have become hallmarks of the firm founded by former CEO and Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney – a message the workers intend to deliver to convention attendees in Tampa, Florida.

“My co-workers and I have first-hand experience with the Romney-Bain agenda. They do everything they can to keep us close to minimum wage with no benefits – and when that’s not enough, they just refuse to pay us for the hours we work,“ said Simara Martinez, a Boston resident and employee of Dunkin’ Donuts. “It’s like modern-day slavery, and if we don’t speak out now it could be too late.”

 In Tampa, the Boston delegation will join hundreds of other Bain workers from across the country that have traveled to the RNC Convention to draw attention to the harmful effects of the Romney-Bain economic agenda. Their scheudle includes a series of actions that highlight longstanding Romney policies that ship American jobs overseas, slash wages and reduce benefits for the few jobs that remain, and push harsh budget cuts that target the low and middle income families who can least afford it.

Employees of Bain-owned companies were among the first to experience the ‘worker-exploitation-for-profit’ model that could be forced on the vast majority of Americans under a Romney presidency.

 “We’re going down to Tampa to tell the truth about the Romney-Bain record on jobs – about the part-time, minimum wage jobs they want us all trapped in,” said Katrina Fitzpatrick, a Dorchester resident who worked for Dunkin’ Donuts for more than 15 years. “If they have their way, billionaires will make even more money while the rest of us suffer. Working people can’t afford a Romney-Bain economy.”

 Joined by Boston City Councilors Felix Arroyo and Charles Yancey, Pastor William Dickerson and other faith and community leaders, Bishop Filipé Teixeira of the Catholic Church of the Americas offered a blessing for workers traveling to Tampa. “We have to unite our voices and speak on behalf of the poor, the exploited, and others who cannot always speak for themselves,” said Teixeira, who has long been at the forefront of the fight for workers’ rights. “In the name of a God who loves us, who looks like us and who suffers with us, we bless these workers who are carrying the weight of so many on their shoulders.”