Current Events –
Carrier Union Boss:
‘Trump Lied His Ass Off’
Donald Trump ran for president on a promise to save American jobs from fleeing to Mexico and other foreign countries. Soon after the election, Trump even made a huge splash by staging an intervention to prevent 1,100 Carrier plant jobs from leaving the U.S. Now, employees are calling Trump’s PR stunt a fake “dog and pony show” that has done little to help them.
Current Events
Trump claimed to use his clout as president-elect to halt the Indiana-based heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) corporation from relocating its plant to Mexico, where labor is cheaper and rules are less stringent. “The Donald” even publicly pat himself on the back for what appeared to be a successful job-saving scheme. Was it all bullshit?
According to Carrier employee TJ Bray, Trump gave them the old bait and switch by announcing he had saved 1,100 jobs, however, that figure was much closer to 700 and only included clerical and administrative positions. In fact, with Carrier’s plan to close an additional Indiana plant, 1,300 jobs will be sent to Mexico despite what Donald Trump has claimed to the contrary.
Believing that he and his coworkers were lied to, Bray had this to say about Trump: “We feel like, you know, we thought you were going to save all the jobs. We have 1,400 people at the facility — union, factory, regular jobs — and he didn’t say anything about the 400 that were already going to stay.” Bray added: “So you know, it kind of seems like it was a dog and pony show. We were happy that no doubt some jobs were saved but disappointed we are still losing a lot of workers.”
However, it was the union boss who had the choicest of words for Donald Trump.
“He’s lying his ass off,” Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999 said on CNN regarding Trump’s claim of saving 1,100 jobs. “That’s not just my feeling. The numbers prove he’s lying his ass off. It’s a damn shame when you come in and make a false statements like that.”
Jones added: “Trump said NO companies would be allowed to go to Mexico. There are more than 300 people over there at Rexnord. He needs to deliver for them as well. You made a promise to keep all these jobs. You half-way delivered. We expect you go back and keep all the jobs.”
(Cue dastardly music here)
Never one to ever allow anyone to utter a negative syllable about him, Donald Trump took to his favorite weapon of choice (Twitter) to bash the Carrier union boss.
“Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!” Trump tweeted.
An hour later, Trump was still not done seeking revenge: “If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana.”
.
Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
.
If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
.
Current Events
In response to Trump’s predictable Twitter-rant, Jones said “I think he ought to make sure he gets all the facts straight before he starts talking about what he’s done.”
.
Pres. of United Steelworkers Union on @Carrier deal: “What nobody’s mentioning is 550 people are losing their jobs” https://t.co/SxPg1jZHk9
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) December 8, 2016
.
Interestingly, former GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin blasted Trump’s Carrier deal as a bad example of “Crony Capitalism.”
“When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” Palin wrote. “Meanwhile, the invisible hand that best orchestrates a free people’s free enterprise system gets amputated. Then, special interests creep in and manipulate markets. Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail.”
Ouch!
Jones said he hopes Carrier will offer workers the chance to leave voluntarily with the 1 week of pay for every year of service severance package they previously negotiated. Jones believes that if large numbers of senior employees take the package and retire, it would save the jobs of younger workers.
“For workers who have 40 years in and were getting close to retirement, that 40 weeks pay might look pretty good,” Jones said.
.
A little behind in reading your posts DJ due to battling a bit of bronchitis. Thankfully antibiotics have me on the mend.
Will try to keep this short and sweet.
Trump's supporters don't mind his endless lies and foolishness. He's gonna "make America great again", remember?
Uh-huh /sarc.
Anyway, when even Sarah Palin calls out Trump's BS that's a sign of just how disastrous this farce of a presidency could end up being.
And to think, this is just the beginning….smh.