Trump criticizes union leader critical of Indiana deal

Local union members are rallying around a United Steelworkers union local president from IN that President-elect Donald Trump lashed out against on Twitter, after he called into question the number of Carrier Corp.jobs saved from outsourcing to Mexico.

Chuck Jones, president of the local United Steelworkers union group that represents the plant employees, later told the Washington Post that Trump “lied his ass off”.

Just last week the President-elect visited the Indianapolis based plant to tout the deal that keeps 800 jobs in the country…

Jones emphasized that 550 people are losing their jobs in the Indianapolis facility and 700 jobs are also going to Mexico from the company’s Huntington, Ind., plant.

The president-elect slammed Carrier union leader Chuck Jones on Twitter after Jones claimed the billionaire had inflated the number of jobs he saved at Carrier.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence – governor of IN – visited Carrier’s Indianapolis factory December 1 to celebrate the deal.

However, Chuck noted that Trump and Pence should have only bragged about saving 800 Carrier jobs, not a higher number of jobs. His friend of 36 years called him Wednesday night and said: The president-elect is smearing you on Twitter.

Trump would likely need congressional approval to impose tariffs on a specific company or a group of companies, says Gary Hufbauer, an expert on trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Another 350 engineering jobs, also in Indianapolis, had never been scheduled to move. “I had a lot more serious threats than people are making now”, he said. On Thursday, he said he’s anxious about the future of the 800 jobs that Carrier has agreed to keep in Indianapolis.

Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999, told CNN that the number wasn’t correct. “Well first of all, that wasn’t very damn nice, but with Donald Trump saying that, that must mean I am doing a good job”, he told CNN in a follow-up interview, calling Trump’s attacks “pretty low down and low life”. “Reduce dues”, Jones’ phone lit up. “You are going to have at your command not just Twitter but also the Central Intelligence Agency, the IRS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation”.

“Well, I’m pretty happy that we’re keeping jobs in America – aren’t you?”

Chuck Jones says his phone began ringing half an hour after Donald Trump tweeted about him on Wednesday. He even included a photo of himself with Jones and the other people from United Steelworkers 1999, writing, “Appreciate the chance to meet w/ Chuck Jones & hardworking men of Local 1999 about our efforts to save Carrier jobs”.