Tony Cook and James Briggs

The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Carrier Corp. plans to eliminate 338 jobs at its Indianapolis furnace factory Thursday — and the timing is likely to raise some eyebrows.

The previously announced layoffs coincide, to the day, with the six-month anniversary of Donald Trump's presidency. They are part of a deal Trump struck with the company in December to prevent deeper job cuts at the plant.

The terminations are the first wave of about 630 planned before the end of the year as the company shifts work to Mexico. Carrier's parent company, United Technologies Corp. (UTX), also plans to lay off an additional 700 workers at a factory in Huntington, Ind., near Fort Wayne, Ind.

Carrier, in a statement, said it "continues to honor its 2016 commitment to employ approximately 1,100 associates in Indianapolis. As announced in November, this includes headquarters and engineering jobs and more than 800 employees supporting our world-class gas furnace manufacturing center."

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The statement noted that more than 30 of the affected employees have taken advantage of a company benefit that reimburses them for pursuing degree programs.

Carrier last year announced plans to move all of its Indianapolis operations to Monterrey, Mexico, and close the factory. The pending layoffs became a flash point during the presidential election when United Technologies announced it would cut 2,100 jobs in Indiana. Trump slammed the decision on the campaign trail and threatened to "tax the hell" out of Carrier's products.

An agreement brokered after the election by Trump and then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence resulted in a commitment from Carrier to keep the plant open for 10 years. Despite the agreement, Carrier is still moving its fan coil production from Indianapolis to Mexico.

Most of the positions being cut Thursday are related to that outsourcing, said Robert James, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents Carrier workers. About 140 of the workers who are leaving Thursday requested voluntary separation, James said.

Carrier granted the separations to some of the most experienced employees, which James said might allow some younger workers to keep their jobs. All employees whose jobs are being eliminated will receive one week of severance pay for every year they spent with Carrier, plus six months of insurance.

Although Trump and Pence have been credited with saving Carrier's Indianapolis factory, James said employees don't feel much security.

"They just don't have any faith in this plant staying in Indianapolis," he said. "There's just too much uncertainty."

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James, who recently succeeded retired union leader Chuck Jones, said he expects Carrier to eventually close the plant.

Jones and Trump were in a bit of a Twitter feud after the deal was announced. Trump twice tweeted about Jones, saying Jones has done a "terrible job" representing workers and that the union should "spend more time working." Jones had criticized the deal.

At least in the short term, the deal negotiated by Trump and Pence is expected to prevent more than 700 layoffs at Carrier. As part of the deal, Pence arranged for Carrier to receive up to $7 million in conditional state tax incentives and training grants — one of his final acts before leaving the governor's office.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. in March granted initial approval to the Trump-Pence Carrier deal, but the state has yet to finalize it.

Trump and his supporters touted the deal as an early win for the incoming administration — proof that Trump's deal-making abilities could save jobs in the U.S. But detractors criticized Trump and Pence for exaggerating the number of jobs saved and for providing taxpayer subsidies to the company even as it planned to ship most work to Mexico.

Contributing: Holly V. Hays, The Indianapolis Star. Follow Tony Cook and James Briggs on Twitter: @indystartony and @JamesEBriggs

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