Democrats invited three workers at companies controlled by Bain Capital to speak at the Democratic convention late Wednesday, giving delegates a chance to hear specific criticisms of how Mitt Romney's former company dealt with the companies it bought.
The GOP convention just last week highlighted Romney's work at Bain as a career based on buying companies and turning them around, often enough to let them boost hiring. But Democrats have repeatedly pounded Bain, and continued this Wednesday night.
Randy Johnson started by saying Bain Capital bought his company, which led to the firing of hundreds of employees.
"On July 5, 1994, Mitt Romney and his partners at Bain Capital fired me and more than 350 of my coworkers," he said. "It came without any warning. They rushed in security guards to walk us out of our plant. We weren't even allowed to take our personal items.
"Mitt Romney will stick it to working people. Barack Obama is sticking up for working people. It's as simple as that," he added. Johnson did not name his former company.
Another former employee at a different company had a similar story.
"I used to work at a plant in Miami that Governor Romney bought with his partners at Bain Capital," said Cindy Hewitt. "I say 'used to' because not long after they bought it, Romney and his partners shut our plant down and ultimately drove the company into bankruptcy.
"Our company, Dade Behring, was a big part of the community. There were folks who'd been there for 15 to 20 years. But by the time Romney and his partners were done with us, we'd lost 850 jobs in Florida."
A third employee, David Foster, said his steel mill was also hurt by Bain.
"When Romney and Bain took over the mill, they loaded it up with millions in debt — and within months, they used some of that borrowed money to pay themselves millions," he said. "Within a decade, the debt kept growing and was so large the company was forced into bankruptcy.
"They fired 750 steelworkers while they pocketed $12 million in profit. A steelworker at GST Steel would have had to work 240 years to make $12 million."
Just before these speakers, Bob King, president of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), also cited Bain as a company that bought companies only to make a profit for themselves.
"At Bain Capital, the corporate buyout firm he founded, too often he and his partners made their money not by building companies up, but by taking them apart," King said. "And too often, the workers ended up in the street, even as Romney and his partners walked away with millions."
