Robert King

robert.king@indystar.com

The television trucks were clustered around Carrier’s west-side manufacturing plant, where President-elect Donald Trump made an appearance Thursday to tout his efforts to save 1,000 jobs.

But as Trump's motorcade rolled up, the new CEO-in-chief didn't have to look far to see other workers in peril of having their jobs being sent outside the U.S.

On the street across from Carrier were clusters of endangered workers hoping to grab the attention of Trump and the national media so they could pose a simple question: What about us?

They included workers from the nearby Rexnord plant, where 300 jobs will be lost next year because of a plan similar to Carrier’s. And they included 13 workers from Carrier’s plant in Huntington, where 700 jobs are due to be shipped to Mexico over the next two years. They made the trip together in a van to hold signs asking the next president: “What about our jobs in Huntington?”

In sparing the jobs at Carrier, Trump delivered the blue-collar dream — a reprieve from layoffs. And he went further by pledging that companies that send jobs overseas will face consequences. But for the workers out in the cold Thursday, that seemed like a tough promise to keep.

“Is there hope?” asked John Feltner, a Rexnord machinist whose job ends soon. “There’s always hope. But, in reality, our jobs are gone.”

Even Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, said as he stood shivering with the workers on the corner that it’s almost hoping against hope to expect Trump to stop most of the offshoring deals in the works.

“I can’t see him going all over the country with a big stick to get CEOs to keep jobs in this country,” Voorhies said.

In that sense, the spectacle of Trump at Carrier was bittersweet for the workers on the outside looking in. Many of them voted for Trump because of his pledges to blue collar America. And all of them were thrilled he managed to keep Carrier jobs in Indianapolis. But they said it will take a lasting movement — and some new laws — to turn the tide for workers who have been watching jobs disappear for decades through offshoring, automation and other influences.

“It’s time for the American working people to speak up and say they’ve had enough,” said Gary Canter, a Rexnord worker facing a layoff.

The Rexnord workers are in a particularly poignant situation. They are part of the same union local — United Steelworkers 1999 — as the Carrier employees in Indianapolis. They’ve stood next to Carrier workers during protests. They’ve lamented what appeared to be the shared fate. Then word came in recent days that Trump had worked some magic — at least for the Carrier workers — and there was joy.

"Holy hell," Feltner said in response to the news. Immediately, though, his thoughts turned from his friends at Carrier to his fellow workers at Rexnord. "Let’s keep the ball rolling.”

Call IndyStar reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter: @RbtKing.

Rexnord finalizes plan to close Indianapolis plant as union leader blasts 'corporate greed'