INDIANAPOLIS - Carrier has announced plans to relocate its Indianapolis operations to Mexico by 2019, affecting roughly 1,400 jobs. Carrier manufactures furnaces at a facility on W. Morris St. in Indianapolis. The company plans to relocate over the next three years in three phases.
United Steelworkers 1999 employs about 1,300 members at the Morris Street Carrier plant. Chuck Jones, president of Local 1999, tells WTHR that employees were notified Wednesday morning about the jobs moving to Mexico.
"We did not see it coming. It was a total shock," said Jones.
He said the move ultimately means the loss of 1,300 union jobs that average $20 to $21 per hour.
Mayor Hogsett angered over Carrier move to Mexico
"We know the reason. They want to become more profitable by exploiting Mexican labor," said Jones.
"This facility is not losing money. If it was losing money, I think these things would be understood better. This company just wants to make more," said employee Robert James.
The phase-out is to begin in May of 2017 and will wrap up in 2019.
One Carrier employee with the company 31 years described the move as "a big blow."
While she preferred not to be identified, she said "there was a lot of sadness" and anxiety following the announcement.
"A lot of people don't know what they're going to do," she
Poster Comment:
Screw Carrier. There should be a 200 percent tariff on anything that crosses the border from them assholes.