Calling this “Made in America” week
is a huge slap in face for hundreds of workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis.
By Friday, they’ll be out of work—
and their jobs will be headed to Mexico.
— My coil department will be gone, uh…
…next week.
Off to Monterey, Mexico.
— Duane Oreskovic is 38.
For the last four and a half years,
he’s made heating and cooling equipment at the Carrier factory in Indiana.
Until this year, he was certain he’d one day retire there.
— What can you do?
— You can do what you’re doing today.
— Oh, absolutely, you know, the opportunities,
people like yourself coming out here and offering assistance for employment is great.
— Absolutely. That’s what we’re here for.
— Appreciate your time. — Thanks for stopping by.
— Thank you. — Good luck to you.
— Carrier is laying off more than 600 employees in two groups:
about 300 tomorrow,
and the rest right before Christmas, which is when Duane gets the axe.
We caught up with him last week at a jobs fair for union workers.
He and other employees said that while they’re looking for work…
— I appreciate it.
— …they already feel antagonized.
— The valves that we put on our A coils,
they’ve already got the stickers saying, “Made in Mexico.”
And that’s been months now.
— How did people feel once that started happening?
— They were really pissed.
They were like, “How are they getting away with this?”
Well, the department—
not the corporation, but the department—
is contracted for Mexico.
— So does it kind-of feel like symbolism of what’s about to happen?
— I don’t know what you wanna call it, but I’d call it a kick in the nuts.
We spend more time at work than seeing our own families.
We’re working six days a week, five nights ‘till four in the morning,
and you’re going to insult us like that?
— The Trump administration made Carrier the poster child
for the struggles of American manufacturing workers.
During the campaign,
then-candidate Trump used Carrier as an example
of corporations turning their backs on American laborers.
Many of Carrier’s employees, Duane included,
voted for him because they trusted he’d stop it.
— We’re not gonna let Carrier come in,
make air conditioners in Mexico,
sell the air-conditioners to us,
across a very strong border now,
without consequence.
— Before Trump was even inaugurated,
he announced he’d negotiated to save 1,069 Carrier jobs
from being shipped to Mexico.
But if you don’t include white collar positions that weren’t ever on the chopping block,
fewer than 800 union jobs were actually preserved.
600 jobs, including Duane’s,
are still heading to Mexico.
Carrier got $7 million in subsidies for the deal.
— When do you think the dust settles from all of this?
— It’s never going to settle.
This is gonna be a hot topic for years.
There’s a lot of other companies now who are following suit.
So let’s see what Mr. Trump can do—
you’re talking the talk, but we’ll see what you can do, man,
about stopping American jobs going overseas or across borders.
— Each night, Duane hosts the night shift version of Happy Hour at 4 a.m.,
when his fellow workers get off and the bars are closed.
— Do you have family? People you’re supporting?
— Sure.
I have three kids.
But you know, I mean…
…it is what it is.
— Who do you guys blame?
— Corporate America, corporate greed.
— It’s all about greed.
— You guys got… $25?
What did you get?
— And they’re gonna get three-something?
— United Technologies, Carrier’s parent company,
declined to interview on the record.
In a statement, they emphasized that they would pay to re-educate employees.
But job retraining doesn’t have an impressive track record.
Robert James is the president of the local United Steelworkers Union:
— Education is gonna be important.
Training is gonna be important.
That’s where the jobs are now.
— So you think there are some long-lasting jobs inside that building right now?
— Yes.
You really don’t have any other choice,
you have to have some type of hope.