WASHINGTON — (CNN) The Carrier Corp. in Indiana said Thursday that it’s had talks with the incoming administration hours after President-elect Donald Trump tweeted he is working to keep the furnace-making plant from shipping jobs to Mexico.
“I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS – Will know soon!” Trump tweeted.
Carrier, a subsidiary of UTC, tweeted in response: “Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time.”
The company has previously been adamant that it will not keep the 1,400 jobs in Indianapolis. As recently as two weeks ago, the company told The New York Times it was still moving operations, “We are making every effort to ease the transition for our Carrier colleagues in Indiana.”
Its decision was based largely because of the $65 million that executives say they will save by moving to Monterey, Mexico – despite political broadsides from Trump, former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and many others.
The plant, on the west side of Indianapolis, quickly became a flashpoint in the campaign earlier this year after a video of a Carrier executive telling the workers they were shuttering the plant went viral. In the months after that, the Carrier plant became shorthand for the loss of jobs and impact of trade that many were hit by throughout the Rust Belt.
Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers local 1999, which represents the Carrier workers being laid off, said Thursday that he has not heard from Trump or the incoming administration, but that he will support anyone who can save their jobs.
“I hope that he’s able to save the plant in Indianapolis,” Jones said. “He still thinks we make air conditioners there. Here in Indy we make furnaces. If he can save these people’s jobs, regardless of what he thinks we make, that’s great.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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