Just a few weeks after Donald Trump’s upset victory, he announced that he had cut a deal with HVAC maker Carrier to keep jobs at a plant in Indianapolis that were initially slated to move to Mexico. It soon became apparent that, as is the case with most everything Trump does, that it was far less than advertised.
While he claimed that over 1,000 jobs had been saved, in truth the number was closer to around 730, with 550 jobs still going to Mexico. When Chuck Jones, president of the steelworkers local that represented the workers, pointed this out, he was bombarded with threats.
In another swindle, Carrier promised to invest $16 million into the plant in return for receiving $7 million in incentives from the state of Indiana–a deal that Mike Pence helped close before leaving the governor’s office to become Trump’s vice president. But it later turned out that money was used to install robots to do the jobs that were supposedly being saved. Moreover, if Trump was really interested in saving jobs, he would have tried to save a plant that Carrier parent United Technologies operates in Huntington, two hours northeast. But he didn’t–and the jobs at that plant are slated to move to Mexico in 2018.
Well, earlier this week, we got yet more proof that last year’s deal was yet another Trump con. Carrier announced that over 200 employees will be laid off early next year.
The automation plans put some 800 of the jobs Trump supposedly saved in jeopardy. In May, Carrier announced that 600 jobs were moving south of the border anyway. As part of that move, Carrier laid off 338 Indianapolis workers in July.
Later, it announced that more workers would be laid off in December. On Tuesday, those workers got a reprieve–sort of. They will stay with Carrier until January 11. Watch more details from WTHR in Indianapolis here.
As it turns out, 215 workers will leave Carrier on that date; originally, 275 workers were due to lose their jobs in December. Carrier says that attrition allowed the company to keep more workers than it planned.
Rafael Sanchez of WRTV in Indianapolis broke down the numbers.
Carrier is still committed to retaining 1,100 jobs in Indianapolis, per its agreement with Trump. That comes as cold comfort to Robert James, who succeeded Jones as president of the steelworkers local earlier this year. He doesn’t see Carrier hiring any more workers in Indianapolis in the near future.
Just before leaving on his Asia Pacific trip, Trump loudly touted the October jobs report.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! pic.twitter.com/twUNktGbnb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
He also patted himself on the back for creating new jobs since January.
Unemployment is down to 4.1%, lowest in 17 years. 1.5 million new jobs created since I took office. Highest stock Market ever, up $5.4 trill
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2017
Those numbers probably come as cold comfort to those workers at Carrier. After all, after Trump claimed to have saved their jobs, they’re about to be out of work next year.
(featured image courtesy Michael Vadon, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)