Donald Trump’s hastily announced deal with Carrier is already drawing criticisms from both sides of the aisle. Even the company’s workers are speaking against the President-Elect’s poorly planned attempt at preventing Carrier from moving jobs to Mexico. The plant’s union leader has called Mr. Trump out, saying he “lied his ass off” when announcing the deal.
Chuck Jones, leader of the United Steelworkers 1999, gave an interview to the Washington Post right after the deal was announced. Jones referred to the efforts of Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence as a “dog and pony show” and stated he “almost threw up in his mouth.” The union was not involved in any of the deal negotiations.
Although Mr. Trump has claimed that thousands of jobs will now be staying in the United States thanks to his efforts, the facts of the deal show otherwise. The President-Elect is including 350 jobs that were never in danger of leaving and 80 non-union clerical jobs in his numbers. He is also conveniently ignoring the hundreds of jobs that are still being outsourced and failing to provide the salaries and benefits that will be offered to the workers who are keeping their jobs.
Most troubling to Mr. Trump’s Republican party is the high level of tax breaks offered to Carrier to keep jobs in the country. The corporation will receive $7 million in reduced taxes from the state of Indiana thanks to Governor and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence. Fiscal conservatives are opposed to this level of government intervention, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has called the deal “crony capitalism.”
In the long run, the deal may not save many jobs anyways. Carrier’s CEO Greg Hayes has admitted in interviews that many of the jobs staying in the state will soon be replaced by automation. To many of Mr. Trump’s biggest fans, the details don’t matter. The President-Elect promised to bring jobs back to the country, and he’s already kept over a thousand from leaving.