Another US Company To Lay Off All Employees, Move To Mexico

Gov’t Slaves

(Kris Turner)  Carrier is shuttering its manufacturing facility in western Indianapolis and moving its operation to Mexico, eliminating about 1,400 jobs during the next three years.

The heating, ventilating, air conditioning manufacturer announced Wednesday that it would begin eliminating its Indianapolis workforce in 2017 and continue the layoffs through 2019. The company’s plan is being discussed with United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents the employees who face termination.  

“This decision is difficult and we recognize the impact on employees, their families and the community. We are committed to ensuring that our employees are treated respectfully and to working closely with their representatives throughout this transition,” said Chris Nelson, Carrier’s president of HVAC systems and services for North America.

The company is considering options for the facility and will communicate plans with employees and community leaders as soon as they are concrete.

United Steelworkers Subdivision Director Wayne Dale said the announcement was a shock.

“It was devastating to hear and it was not anticipated at all,” he said. “It’s a total disappointment for the employees and their families.”

For a company that’s been in Indianapolis since the early 1950s, the decision is unsettling for workers, United Steelworkers President Chuck Jones said.

“They are scared. There are a lot of questions and people don’t know whether it’ll affect their benefits and pension,” Jones said. “Our feeling is all the retirement benefits and whatnot are still in effect.”

In a statement, Carrier said some separation benefits, including one that pays for college tuition, books and fees, will be available.

Carrier’s residential HVAC headquarters and engineering organization are slated to remain in Indianapolis.

Mayor Joe Hogsett issued an executive order Wednesday afternoon to convene local, state, and federal resources to assist workers who will lose their jobs.

“Today’s surprise announcement was without warning and incredibly disappointing,” the mayor said. “While I am obviously concerned about the economic impact, my top priority is the well-being of the hardworking families affected by this decision.

“A job lost in any part of our community affects us all, and I believe these are the times we must come together as one city to lift up our neighbors.”

Carrier is a part of United Technologies Corp. It is operated through UTC Climate, Controls & Security, which runs 51 factories and 39 design centers across the globe. It employs 50,000 people in more than 180 countries.

Closing the manufacturing facility ultimately came down to cost, Nelson said.

“This move is intended to address the challenges we continue to face in a rapidly changing HVAC industry, with the continued migration of the HVAC industry to Mexico, including our suppliers and competitors, and ongoing cost and pricing pressures driven, in part, by new regulatory requirements,” he said.

Carrier’s workers are separated into a two-tier wage system. A quarter of the workers make about $14 an hour, or about $30,000 a year. The rest make about $26 an hour, or about $55,000, but make well above $70,000 a year with overtime, Jones said.

The economic impact of the closing will be felt mainly in Indianapolis and shouldn’t echo across the state, said Michael Hicks, an economic expert at Ball State University.

“The bad news is you lose 1,400 jobs that are mid-range manufacturing jobs in terms of wages in Indianapolis,” he said. “It’s going to have a ripple effect. The traditional multipliers means those workers will buy fewer things.”

Nelson said the move to Mexico is ultimately about Carrier’s bottom line.

“Relocating our operations to a region where we have existing infrastructure and a strong supplier base will allow us to operate more cost effectively so that we can continue to produce high-quality HVAC products that are competitively positioned while continuing to meet customer needs,” he said.

Gov’t Slaves

11 thoughts on “Another US Company To Lay Off All Employees, Move To Mexico

  1. and when mexico screws you over , or your work force turns out bad product no one here wants to buy

    dont come back!

    i hope Carrier goes tits up and a home town USA company takes all their market share

    wait until a cartel decides they want to extort a company like this .. or holds its CEO for ransom .. uhhuh what than ?

    1. 70 grand a year is chicken Spit ..and thats the top earners with O/T?

      who you gonna sell those units too when NO ONE HERE WILL HAVE A JOB?

      the people working at those facilities in mexico wont be able to afford them

    1. How about screw you for leaving America!? Taxes suck, but why run off like a scared little bitch. Why not stay here and fight? The fact that they ran off to greener fields shows their true nature. Don’t buy carrier. They are summer soldiers.

    2. Try the fraud of “free” trade that puts American workers into “competition” with $15 A DAY average Mexican factory workers.

  2. With the oilfield in shambles, over 300,000 layoffs in Texas alone, Louisiana is dying, it is so bad here that the car lots are practically giving cars away, I have never seen so many million dollar homes on the market and I watch it very closely, everyone down here is feeling the effects of cheap oil, foreclosures are everywhere and that tells me little kids are hurting and that breaks my heart. So now another nail in the coffin. People need good paying jobs to survive, healthcare is so expensive, we don’t have it, any insurance is out the roof, we had to cancel our life insurance policies, couldn’t afford them, it is just bad. If they move to Mexico, like Ford and so many others then ban them and never buy their product again, oh wait you can’t buy their product, you don’t have a job! This shit is getting deep and like I always said, get ready it’s coming! No, it is at the door! I had to buy a cheap car and pay cash for it, because I don’t know if I will be able to keep the cars we have and I figured if we all have to share a 2006 prius, then oh well! It has no a/c but the windows will go down!! But as all things, this too shall pass, just how bad will it get, I am figuring pretty frickin bad!!

  3. Hahahaha!! This is hilarious!

    I worked for Carrier in Carrolton, TX a couple of years ago. This is the same company that fired me for being frustrated the one day at work and saying, “Ugh! I’m so frustrated, I can just shoot someone.” because I was angry that day and whose director of human resources thought it was unusual for someone to say something like that and was in “fear for his employees”, so he fired me.

    Good! I hope they all go bankrupt and die in Mexico.

  4. Sign of the times YALL!
    I am a hardcore Nationalist! Sorry it’s what I am. I love my America with all of her issues! We are great. We are better than the rest. Just got my DNA results back I now know where I am from originally, BUT I am American first and the rest of the world can kiss my ass!

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