Washington, D.C. - Mary Kay Henry, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), issued the following statement about Mitt Romney's new campaign ad in South Carolina:

"Mitt Romney is so troubled by his mediocre 25 percent performance in Iowa that he today sharped his weapons and went on a familiar attack against the 99 percent, unleashing a new ad attacking the NLRB - the nation's only agency designed to protect working people.

"In a new ad, Romney claims that workers who are simply trying to protect their legal rights are un-American. He then promises that an NLRB that is enforcing the law of the land will end if he is in the White House. His message to those who have the audacity to expect that the NLRB help them receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work: Not in this lifetime.

"Romney's attacks should come as no surprise. He has a long history of looking out for the interests of rich corporate executives at the expense of working people. To pick one of many examples, his former company Bain Capital had a long and troubling track record of putting profits above workers -- profiting with a $100 million return on their $5 million investment in Ampad while laying off workers and driving the company into bankruptcy. Their acquisition of a plant in Marion, Indiana where workers were fired and then rehired at a lower wage has also been well documented. And from today's ad it seems clear that is the anti-worker stance that Mitt Romney wants to take to the White House.

"President Obama was right when he said that 'America shouldn't be trying to win a race to the bottom to see who can pay the lowest wages, who's best at busting unions, who's best at letting companies pollute as much as they want.'

"That's Mitt Romney's America, not the one workers need and deserve."

With 2.1 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy. www.seiu.org

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