Washington, D.C. – In the wake of Wednesday’s announcement that Carrier and UTEC will be offshoring jobs from Indiana and moving them to Mexico, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly pressed Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing today on her semi-annual report to Congress on the state of the economy. Carrier and UTEC are part of United Technologies Corporation that reported $6.1 billion dollars in earnings as of December 2014. Donnelly questioned Yellen about growing a healthy economy as some middle and working-class families are losing jobs due to companies sending jobs overseas. Donnelly also asked Chair Yellen about the steel industry, expressing concern about illegal currency manipulation and dumping, and how to ensure a level playing field.
Donnelly said, “Now the promise of America has always been you work hard, you do your job, you help your company be profitable and then in return, you hope to have a decent retirement… so how do we tell workers who have put their whole heart and soul into a company, who have provided them with over $6.1 billion in sales, that it is not enough? I mean, the reason folks are here is because there has always been a promise: if you work hard, the company in return will stand up and do right by you. So, how is doing right having $6.1 billion dollars in earnings and shipping 2,100 Indiana jobs off to Mexico”
Yesterday, Donnelly released a statement on the announcement that Carrier will close its Indianapolis Plant and UTEC will move its manufacturing department from Huntington, which will impact more than 2,000 jobs.
To watch Donnelly’s questions and Chair Yellen’s response, click here.
