Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences, President-elect Donald Trump said to workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis on Thursday.
Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence toured the air conditioning plant earlier Thursday and congratulated the company for agreeing to leave 1,000 jobs within Indianapolis instead of outsourcing them to Mexico.
“They aren’t going to be taking people’s hearts out,” Trump said about American companies keeping jobs in the country.
On Tuesday, Carrier tweeted it would continue to produce gas furnaces at the Indianapolis location.
Following the speech, both the Indiana Democratic Party and Republican Party chairmen released statements in response to the event.
“Today, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence have given the American people just a small example of their exemplary leadership,” Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell said in his statement. “This is good news for not only our state, but for our country. The Trump Administration is dedicated to protecting and fighting for American workers, and this announcement to keep over 1,000 jobs in Indiana is just the beginning of making America prosperous and great again.”
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody echoed Cardwell’s comments about the success of Hoosier workers, yet feared the accountability of the agreement.
“Today’s announcement is great news for the Hoosier families and workers who will get to keep their jobs — though we are disappointed the company will still ship a good portion of jobs abroad,” Zody said his statement. “We hope that moving forward, all workers will have a seat at the table and that a Trump-Pence Administration will follow the lead of common–sense Hoosiers like Joe Donnelly and Andre Carson, who have been working to hold Carrier accountable since the moment their announcement was made to ship jobs to Mexico.”
The event Thursday was not open to the public. Several media outlets applied for press credentials for the event, many of which were denied, including the Indiana Daily Student. Publications such as the Ball State Daily, the student publication at Ball State University; News Link Indiana; and Rafael Sanchez, a reporter for RTV6 — central Indiana’s ABC affiliate — among others, were denied access.
Sanchez initially covered Carrier in February when the company decided to transfer the jobs abroad. When questioning why he was denied press credentials, Sanchez was referred away from the campaign and to the Carrier company directly.
“This event today happened,” Sanchez said in a video on his personal Twitter account. “I am not angry. I am not bothered. But I am committed today and every day to do my job. And if they don’t let me inside, that’s OK. I will still do my job.”
Casey Smith, news editor at Ball State Daily, said her first reaction to the denial of press access was pure shock.
Ball State Daily and News Link Indiana, along with the IDS, were told they did not receive access due to lack of space and security reasons.
“Though we might not be professional, we are an Indiana news publication,” Smith said. “You would think the Trump-Pence campaign would want the younger generation represented in a positive event like this.”
The Trump campaign has received national criticism for its treatment of journalists during and after the election, most recently denying reporters access to events they had precedent to cover from previous president-elects.
Smith addressed the concern she had of what this event means for the future of covering the president-elect, throughout the transition process and once he enters office.
“The unknown is what scares us as the media the most,” Smith said. “We are there to report and get the facts.”
