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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 5/3/16

Indiana's Carrier Factory Cuts Focused The "Trade" Election Issue

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Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future

At Indianapolis Carrier Air Conditioner -- 1,400 Employees Learn They Are Losing Their Jobs to Mexico
At Indianapolis Carrier Air Conditioner -- 1,400 Employees Learn They Are Losing Their Jobs to Mexico
(Image by Mary Greeley, Channel: Mary Greeley)
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Sometimes an event comes along that crystallizes people's awareness of an issue. It is just the right things at the right time. The layoffs at the Indianapolis Carrier air conditioner factory are an example of this kind of event.

The layoffs have focused many people's feelings about our disastrous "trade" agreements that enable, even encourage, companies to move jobs and factories out of the country so that executives and Wall Street can pocket the wage and environmental-cost differential for themselves.

What Happened At Carrier?

In February air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier, a wing of United Technologies, announced that beginning next year it will move its Indianapolis production to Mexico and lay off the company's U.S. workers. (It will also gut the factory's suppliers and surrounding businesses.) The announcement was caught on video and went viral just as the presidential campaign was focusing on the disastrous effects of our country's "trade" policies.

United Technologies reported $7.6 billion in profits for 2015. This was up from $6.2 billion in 2014. The company is spending $12 billion to purchase its own stock, which manipulates an increase in the stock price. That gives an idea of just how much cash the company has at its disposal. They use plenty of it to enrich executives, with their CEO getting almost $10 million in 2014 after getting more than $20 million in 2013.

Meanwhile, Mexico pays wages averaging $2.70 an hour for manufacturing jobs. By moving production there, the company, executives and Wall Street shareholders can pocket the wage differential. Carrier's Indianapolis workers, suppliers, businesses, tax base, housing prices and job market? Too bad for them, but that's not United Technology's problem.

Workers Driven To "Outsiders" Sanders, Trump

Indiana's presidential primary is Tuesday, and the Carrier layoffs have become an issue in the campaign. Zach Carter, reporting at The Huffington Post, in "Watch Corporate America Turn A Roomful Of Workers Into Bernie Sanders And Donald Trump Supporters," writes about the effect of that video announcing the layoffs:

"Throughout the transition, we must remain committed to manufacturing the same high-quality products," an executive can be heard insisting in a video of the announcement.

"Yeah, f*ck you!" a member of the crowd responds.

"Please quiet down," the official says. "This was an extremely difficult decision."

"Was it?!"

In his report, Carter explains how this fits into the larger national discussion of "trade" and the effect our "trade" policies have had on jobs and incomes, and why this is a boost to Bernie Sanders' and Donald Trump's "outsider" campaigns:

"Both Republicans and Democrats have consistently backed economic policies over the past 35 years that have systematically gutted the American middle class. For decades, Congress has listened to corporate lobbyists who told our representatives that if they could just cut this one tax rate, or just ease this one regulation, there would be a renaissance of prosperity. The renaissance has happened for the rich. Everyone else has been left behind."

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Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational (more...)
 

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