below, release from Stand Up Chicago….
***VISUALS: Large NO ROMNEY ECONOMY banners and signs;
“Romney Hood,” an 8-foot-tall puppet representing Mitt Romney’s agenda of stealing from poor and working families to give to the rich and large corporations***
Chicagoans to Reject Romney Economy, March to Republican Party Headquarters on Day of Romney’s Acceptance Speech
Voters to Demand an Economy That Works for the 99%, Say No to Outsourcing, Healthcare Cuts and Corporate Tax Breaks
CHICAGO – Today at 11:00 AM, a few hours before Mitt Romney accepts the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, more than 200 99%ers — low-wage workers, senior citizens, community activists, faith leaders and students — will roundly reject the Romney Economy — an economy of outsourcing, minimum wage jobs, and tax cuts for the 1% — as they march to the GOP’s Chicago headquarters in Lincoln Park.
Among those marching will be workers fresh from protesting the Romney Economy at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, including minimum-wage workers and employees of Bain Capital-owned Sensata Technologies in Freeport, Illinois struggling to save their jobs, which are being outsourced to China later this year. The Sensata workers have been calling on Mitt Romney – the founder of and a current investor in Bain Capital – to use his influence to stop it.
While in Tampa, the Sensata workers watched the leaked video of Mitt Romney admitting to using Chinese slave labor in China. They responded as people who know first hand what a Romney Economy would look like. Romney “created the model that’s destroying America,” said one Sensata worker. “If you want to know what the Romney Economy is,” she said, “look what Sensata’s doing to the people of Freeport, Illinois,” she said. (See both videos here.)
As part of a nationwide movement rejecting “Mr. 1%,” workers and policy experts will speak out against the defining features of the Romney Economy: outsourcing, tax breaks for the rich coupled with take hikes for the middle class, the destruction of the social safety net, and the low-road, minimum-wage jobs that are the signature of numerous Bain Capital-owned companies.
WHAT: Rally and march to the GOP’s Chicago headquarters to reject the Romney Economy
WHEN: 11:00 AM, Thursday, August 30 — the day Mitt Romney accepts the Republican nomination
WHERE: Jonquil Park (Wrightwood/Lincoln/Sheffield) — march to Chicago Republican Party headquarters at 2768 N. Lincoln
WHO: More than 200 99%ers, including Illinois workers fresh back from the Republican National Convention in Tampa
Speakers:
Tom Gaulrapp, a soon-to-be-outsourced employee of Bain-owned Sensata Technologies in Freeport, Illinois
Ron Baiman, Director of Budget and Policy Analysis at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability
Armand Greer, a waiter and bartender at a Chicago club who earns the tipped minimum wage
To set up interviews with any of the speakers, call Catherine Murrell at 312-523-3882.
This event is part of a nationwide day of action, as voters reject Mitt Romney’s vision for America and demand an economy and a government that work for the 99%. These voters want: an increase to the federal minimum wage, an end to tax breaks for the rich and corporations, a renewed focus on creating good American jobs instead of layoffs and outsourcing for profit, and a Congress committed to representing all Americans, not just the 1%.
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Danny Postel
Communications Specialist
Stand Up! Chicago
