Carrier employee calls Trump's deal "huge relief," but effects still unclear
President-elect Donald Trump will formally announce his plan Thursday to save more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs. He will visit Carrier’s factory in Indianapolis with Vice President-elect and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, after reaching a deal with the company Wednesday to stop those jobs from being moved to Mexico.
Even with this agreement, Carrier will still ship hundreds of jobs from the factory to Mexico. There are also concerns about what kind of precedent this sets for other companies with plans to move overseas, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.
The deal covers not only manufacturing jobs, but also engineering and headquarters staff. Carrier said it will also make new investments in the facility, ensuring it remains a “world-class furnace factory.”
In return, the company will receive incentives estimated in the millions of dollars.
Paul Roell is a 17-year Carrier employee. A union member and Trump voter, he and his wife had been bracing for the worst.
“It was such a huge relief. I was worried if I had to take a lower-paying job, I may have to sell my house to get a more affordable home in a different area,” Roell said.
“Are you going to go see Mr. Trump?” Reynolds asked.
“Yes. I’m hoping maybe he’ll have enough time to maybe talk to us so I can thank him personally for saving my job,” Roell said.
According to Fortune, Trump called Carrier CEO Greg Hayes and promised corporate tax rate reductions, dwarfing the $65 million the company would have saved through outsourcing. Indiana reportedly sweetened the deal with about $700,000 in yearly tax incentives.
“We’re going to get this economy rolling again, have America standing tall in the world and prospering at home,” Pence said in Washington D.C. Wednesday.
Carrier told employees in February it was shuttering the plant.
“I want to be clear. This is strictly a business decision,” a man told Carrier employees, captured on video.
In a statement, the company said: “This agreement in no way diminishes our belief in the benefits of free trade and that the forces of globalization will continue to require solutions for the long-term competitiveness of the U.S.”
The White House welcomed the news but questioned whether saving jobs one factory at a time is effective.
“If he is successful in doing that 804 more times, then he will meet the record of manufacturing jobs that were created in the United States while President Obama was in office,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
Carrier did not say whether the many government contracts of its parent company, United Technologies, played a role in its decision. Ten percent of United Technologies’ revenues reportedly come from the federal government. The company made $4 billion in U.S. profits last year.
