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500 Carrier workers hired after February 2005 likely to lose their jobs

Posted at 2:51 PM, Dec 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-06 02:38:12-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- The employees at Carrier that are likely to lose their jobs are more than 500 employees hired after February 2005, according to the United Steelworkers, Local Union 1999, the union that represents the west side factory's workers.

In the form of a letter to its members Monday, the union detailed specifics of which jobs will be lost despite the efforts of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and their negotiations with the plant's parent company, United Technologies. 

President-elect Trump struck a deal last week with Carrier to keep 800 of the original 1,400 jobs that were slated to move to Mexico. The deal involved $7 million in state tax breaks for the company over the next 10 years.

READ MORE | Details of the Trump-Carrier deal to keep jobs in Indy

In total, more than 500 jobs will be moving from the plant in Indianapolis to Monterrey, Mexico, which is less than the originally estimated 600. It is believed most of these jobs will come from the fan coil line that produces electric furnaces. 

USW International President Leo W. Gerard credited the members of the union for their efforts in saving the jobs that they did by calling attention to their issues during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"The dedicated USW members in Indianapolis who build quality heating equipment for Carrier deserve credit for bringing the union's fight to save their jobs to the attention of the nation during the 2016 presidential campaign," Gerard wrote in a letter to union members Monday. "We thank President-elect Trump for listening to our members and following through on his campaign pledge to persuade Carrier to keep production of quality heating equipment in Indianapolis."

"We also appreciate Sen. Bernie Sanders' efforts in keeping this issue on the front burner," said USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap.

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In total, 730 production and maintenance jobs and 70 management jobs will remain in Indianapolis.

The union said they were not involved in any discussions with President-elect Trump. 

Employees hired after February 2005 are the most likely to be affected due to seniority levels. The union has not yet met with the company to discuss severance for those employees, but said they will do so in the next few weeks.

Transfers within the company in the United States were mentioned as part of the initial deal details with President-elect Trump, but Carrier nor the union have been able to elaborate on those details.