Carrier eliminating 338 Indianapolis jobs on 6-month anniversary of Trump's presidency
Carrier Corp. plans to eliminate 338 jobs at its Indianapolis furnace factory Thursday — and the timing is likely to raise some eyebrows.
The previously announced layoffs coincide, to the day, with the six-month anniversary of Donald Trump's presidency. They are part of a deal Trump struck with the company in December to prevent deeper job cuts at the plant.
The terminations are the first wave of about 630 planned before the end of the year as the company shifts work to Mexico. Carrier's parent company, United Technologies Corp., also plans to lay off another 700 workers at a factory in Huntington near Fort Wayne.
In a statement, Carrier said it "continues to honor its 2016 commitment to employ approximately 1,100 associates in Indianapolis. As announced in November, this includes headquarters and engineering jobs and more than 800 employees supporting our world-class gas furnace manufacturing center."
The statement noted that more than 30 of the affected employees have taken advantage of a company benefit that reimburses them for pursuing degree programs.
Carrier last year announced plans to move all its Indianapolis operations to Monterrey, Mexico, and close the west side factory. The pending layoffs became a flashpoint during the presidential election when United Technologies announced it would cut 2,100 jobs in Indiana. Trump slammed the decision on the campaign trail and threatened to "tax the hell" out of Carrier's products.
An agreement brokered after the election by Trump and then-Gov. Mike Pence resulted in a commitment from Carrier to keep the plant open for 10 years. Despite the agreement, Carrier is still moving its fan coil production from Indianapolis to Mexico.
Most of the positions being cut Thursday are related to that fan coil outsourcing, said Robert James, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents Carrier workers. About 140 of the workers who are leaving Thursday requested voluntary separation, James said.
Carrier granted the separations to some of the most experienced employees, which James said might allow some younger workers to keep their jobs. All employees whose jobs are being eliminated will receive one week of severance pay for every year they spent with Carrier, plus six months of insurance. The jobs pay an average of about $22 an hour.
Although Trump and Pence have been credited with saving Carrier's Indianapolis factory, James said employees don't feel much security.
"They just don't have any faith in this plant staying in Indianapolis," he said. "There's just too much uncertainty."
James, who recently succeeded retired union leader Chuck Jones, said he expects Carrier to eventually close the plant. Mohan Tatikonda, an operations management professor for the Indiana University Kelley School of Business who has visited the Carrier plant, said it's a valid fear.
"I would expect the furnace production would move to Mexico or some other lower-cost labor environment, barring some massive international changes, in some number of years," Tatikonda said.
Neither Pence spokesman Marc Lotter nor a Trump administration spokesman responded to requests for comment.
While the Carrier factory continues to churn out furnace products, Milwaukee-based Rexnord Corp. is preparing to close its nearby industrial bearings factory in September. Rexnord recently postponed the plant's closing, yet has shown no signs of giving in to pressure that Trump has applied to the company as recently as May to keep it open.