A top Republican National Committee (RNC) official says the union leader for Carrier employees should be thankful for President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to keep the company’s jobs in the U.S.
Trump has sparred with Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999, over efforts to save jobs at a heater and air conditioner manufacturing plant in Indianapolis.
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“He should be grateful for Mr. Trump and [Republican Indiana] Gov. [Mike] Pence’s efforts to save those jobs,” RNC communications director Sean Spicer said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” Thursday about the labor leader.
“Here you have a guy that talked about Carrier and the importance of keeping jobs,” he added of Trump. “He picks up the phone and closes a deal. You’ve got a 1,000 people that are going to have a blessed holiday season that are not worried about jobs.
“They get to spend this time with family and friends knowing that they have a job with good benefits. That’s something that should be celebrated.”
Carrier had originally planned to move many of its jobs to Mexico, but decided to keep 730 of the 1,350 jobs in Indiana after receiving $7 million in tax breaks from the state.
Trump has touted the deal. But Jones says that Trump “lied his ass off” about the terms and wants him to explain why over 500 other jobs weren’t saved.
Trump during a celebratory rally last week claimed “the number’s over 1,100 people.”
The president-elect returned fire Wednesday, arguing Jones had “done a terrible job” protecting Carrier workers in Indianapolis.
Spicer said Trump “wants the truth” and accused Jones of misrepresenting the deal.
“And then you’ve got a union boss that goes out and fabricates how the story went down for no reason,” he continued. “I think Mr. Trump is never going to sit back and let someone take a shot falsely at him without responding.”
Trump repeatedly promised to save the jobs of 1,350 employees working at Carrier’s Indiana plant before his White House win.
Trump’s team initially pledged more than 1,000 jobs would stay in the U.S., but 550 are still slated to relocate to Mexico.