Sen. Coats meets with Carrier execs
WASHINGTON (WISH) — Senator Dan Coats met in Washington Tuesday with executives from the parent company of the Carrier Corporation. He expressed disappointment in the decision to move 2,100 Indiana jobs to Mexico.
Coats said that the representatives of United Technologies told him that the decision to move to Mexico is final.
He said he pushed them to give severance pay and job training to workers who will be left behind in Indiana.
Meantime, the state Senate voted 44-to-5 in favor of a resolution that expresses profound disappointment in the Carrier decision.
Senators are worried that other coporations with manufacturing plants in Indiana will follow suit and they want to send the message that they consider the moving of jobs to Mexico to be un-American.
“The responsibility of this decision lies solely with the Carrier Corporation,” said Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek) “Their behavior is disappointing to me as a legislator, as a Hoosier and as a now former customer.”
“The company’s sole purpose of moving to Mexico was because of greed,” said Sen. Lonnie Randolph (D-East Chicago).
“They gave up on us,” said Sen. Frank Mrvan (D-Hammond) “It’s time for us to get even. I would try every way we possibly could to get money that we invested in them back.”
Senator Coats also says he will press Carrier for repayment of all taxpayer dollars received by the company.
Some of the “no” votes in the state Senate came from members who objected to language in the resolution that placed some of the blame for the Carrier move on federal government regulations.
The resolution carries no weight. It will also be voted on in the Indiana House.