Dot Turner, a laid off Sensata worker from Freeport, will be joining U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D, IL-17) at President Obama's State of the Union address tomorrow.

 

After working at the same factory for 43 years, Turner was laid off earlier this year when Sensata Technologies, a maker of sensors and controls that are used in aircrafts, automobiles, and electric motors, shut down its Freeport factory and moved to China.

 

Purchased in 2006 by Bain Capital, the investment firm co-founded by Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 2012 election, Sensata Technologies announced in 2011 it would be relocating its Freeport plant to China and forced many of its workers to train their Chinese replacements. Turner was one of 170 workers who were laid off. 

 

Sensata employees and community organizers hosted multiple rallies and marches in the months leading up to the plant's closure, even calling on Romney to intervene to no avail. 

 

“Nothing is more important to me than fighting for American workers like Dot Turner and for American manufacturing jobs like those lost at Sensata,” said Congresswoman Bustos in a statement.  “That’s why I’m honored that Dot Turner will be my guest at the State of the Union address.  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.”