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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2016)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 16 , 2016 | PAGE 9 ...Trump’s Carrier deal From Page 1 plant meeting on Facebook. “The best way to stay com- petitive,” says a Carrier exec to a room full of factory workers in the video, “is to move produc- tion from our facility in Indi- anapolis to Monterrey, Mexico.” In the video, the workers erupt, yelling and angry. The man in the suit tells them to quiet down. “Yeah, f**k you!” one man can be heard yelling back. The video went viral, getting over 5 million views. And the very day LaKeisha Austin posted it, Indiana Trump sup- porter Jack Crenshaw told visi- tors to her Facebook feed that they should contact Trump about the closure. Two months later, Trump was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for a campaign rally. If he were president, Trump said, he’d call up the head of Carrier and threaten to tax the hell out of products coming back to the United States from off-shored factories. Other politicians want to give incentives. Not Trump. “There have to be conse- quences when they leave,” Trump declared. Trump’s tough talk about trade policy undoubtedly con- tributed to his 57 percent win in Indiana. In Ohio and Wisconsin, up to half the voters in union households voted for Trump, the billionaire who had pledged to “rip up” America’s failed trade agreements. After the election, Carrier employees wondered if Trump would remember them. Trump saw one of them say so on the news. Then, in a Thanksgiving Day tweet, Trump announced he was in talks with Carrier. He tweeted that he’d be returning to Indi- anapolis to make an announce- ment. Then he tweeted a sneak peek of the announcement: “Big day on Thursday for Indiana and the great workers of that won- derful state. We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier” United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones hadn’t voted for Trump, but he praised the president-elect for intervening. United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones. Then Jones, and the rest of the world, learned the details of the deal. So much for Mr. Tough Guy. Gone were the threats to “tax the hell out of” goods from runaway factories. Trump’s deal with Carrier would involve $7 million in state tax breaks and training grants — the same “in- centive” approach he had de- rided politicians for in April. Visiting Carrier’s Indianapo- lis plant to make his official job- saving announcement Dec. 1, Trump made no mention of the $7 million state subsidy. But he heaped praise on the CEO of Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, in front of about 150 company supervisors and production workers. He at- tributed the company’s change of heart to two other factors: A Trump plan to lower corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and a Trump plan to get rid of regulations. Trump got a lot of details wrong. He said he’d never promised to save the Carrier jobs [he had; you can watch it on his own video feed.] Several times he said Carrier had announced the planned closure a year and a half ago. [It was nine months ago.] And, even though he’d just walked through the factory and had negotiated a commitment to keep it open, he seemed to think the factory makes air condition- ers. [Carrier makes air condi- tioners, but its Indianapolis fac- tory makes furnaces.] But for Jones, the Steelworkers local president, the biggest thing Trump got wrong was the head- line: that he had saved 1,100 jobs at the Carrier plant. The truth didn’t come out until the following day: Carrier informed employees Dec. 2 that it still plans to send the factory’s fan coil assembly line to Monterrey — and lay off 600 of the 1,400 union employees at its Indi- anapolis factory. The news found its way to the Washington Post, and on Dec. 7, Jones was interviewed on CNN by Erin Burnett. On the show, Jones made it clear he appreci- ated the 800 Carrier jobs, in- cluding 730 of his members, that Trump had saved. But he criticized Trump for claiming his deal with Carrier had saved 1,100 jobs: To get to 1,100, Trump had to count 300 engi- neering and management jobs that were never slated to go to Mexico, Jones said. “I think he’s done a lot of ne- SEASON’s GREETINGs T0 ALL from IRON WORKERS LOCAL 29 11620 NE Ainsworth Circle, Suite 200, Portland, OR 503-774-0777 Joe Bowers - F INANCIAL S ECRETARY T REASURER /B USINESS M ANAGER Shane Nels - P RESIDENT /B USINESS A GENT Rod Sprinkle Jr. - V ICE P RESIDENT /O RGANIZER Chad Young - S GT .- AT -A RMS Eric Cole - Conductor EXECUTIVE BOARD: Eric Cole, Mike Newton, Charles Riggs, Travis Taylor, Jade Worthington. TRUSTEES: Steve Mahoney, Dean Viers. JATC: Kevin Crocker, Kevin Joyce, Shane Nehls. EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Eric Cole, Mike Newton, Charles Riggs. ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONAL: Aimee Parmeter Turn to Page 15
