Dealers to Help Carrier Employees Find ‘Next Chapter’
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCarmel-based Williams Comfort Air says it is working with area HVAC and plumbing dealers to help provide job opportunities to displaced Carrier Corp. employees. President Jacob Huck says the Next Chapter effort aims to lessen the impact of Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.’s (NYSE: UTX) decision to move hundreds of manufacturing jobs to Mexico.
Huck says Carrier’s Employee Scholar Program provides educational assistance to employees, meaning that workers trained for service technician, installation technician, plumbing and client care positions will be available to local companies. He says the company is looking for area dealers, regardless of the brand of equipment they carry, to examine their work force plans and commit to filling some openings with former Carrier employees.
UTC announced plans last month to move manufacturing jobs from Indianapolis and Huntington to Mexico, impacting about 2,100 Indiana workers. Last week, Governor Mike Pence said the company committed to maintaining 400 jobs between the subsidiaries and return $1.2 million in tax abatement to the Metropolitan Development Commission in Indianapolis.
In a release from Williams Comfort Air, Huck said, "This can be so much more if other companies answer our challenge to get involved like this. I know that the skilled trades industry is always looking for people willing to be trained. There is far too little an emphasis on skilled trades at the school level. I am sure that there are other employers in our area in other lines of business that would consider this opportunity if they know about it."
Huck is asking any company interested in joining the "Next Chapter" effort to contact Williams Comfort Air.