Workers at a Carrier Air Conditioner plant in Indianapolis were summoned to a group assembly this week to be told their jobs would soon be moving to Monterrey, Mexico. In all, 1,400 jobs are expected to be lost.
The moment was caught on video:
“I want to be clear, this is strictly a business decision,” says the speaker, Carrier General Manager Chris Nelson, as the crowd erupts in anger. “This was an extremely difficult decision … It was most difficult because as I understand it will have an impact on all of you, your families, and the community.” Carrier is owned by United Technologies.
Also this week, Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly confronted Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen about the move. He noted that United Technologies Electronic Controls will move 700 jobs from another Indiana operation to Mexico as well.
“Now the promise of America has always been you work hard, you do your job, you help your company be profitable and then in return, you hope to have a decent retirement,” he said. “So how do we tell workers who have put their whole heart and soul into a company, who have provided them with over $6.1 billion in sales, that it is not enough? I mean, the reason folks are here is because there has always been a promise: If you work hard, the company in return will stand up and do right by you. So, how is doing right having $6.1 billion in earnings and shipping 2,100 Indiana jobs off to Mexico?”
Yellen, who has come under fire for rate hikes many fear will undermine the unemployment situation, replied: “This is a miserable and burdensome situation that many households have faced.”
Top photo: “carriers” by Alex Carmichael used under, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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