Carrier says it will keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis

The air conditioning and heating company Carrier announced Tuesday that it will keep close to 1,000 jobs slated to go to Mexico in Indianapolis.

On Twitter, Carrier said it was "pleased to have reached a deal" with Donald Trump and Mike Pence, the vice president-elect and governor of Indiana. A transition official told The Associated Press that Carrier officials, Trump, and Pence will announce the agreement in an event on Thursday. The company has 1,400 workers at its plant, meaning layoffs are still possible. "If they're saying they're going to retain 1,000 jobs, that would mean 400 are going away," Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents Carrier workers, told The Indianapolis Star. The union has not yet been briefed on the deal, he said, and while they've been "trying to find out what that consists of, we haven't had any luck."

Earlier this year, the company said its furnace plant's operations would be moved to Mexico, following in the footsteps of its competitors. While campaigning, Trump said he would enact a substantial tax on any Carrier products made in Mexico. Carrier's parent company, United Technologies Corp, is a major defense contractor that supplies engines for U.S. fighter jets, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another outspoken critic of the move to Mexico, said last week that Trump should use the company's defense contracts as leverage to convince executives to keep the Indiana factory open.

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