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Pence: Carrier Will Pay Back Grant Money, But Jobs Move Isn't Final

Carrier Corporation

Governor Pence says Carrier and United Technologies will keep 400 executive and research jobs in Indiana, but says the state is still trying to save 2,100 jobs from moving to Mexico.

Pence emerged from a meeting with executives from Carrier and its parent company UTEC to say the companies have agreed to repay local tax abatements and $400,000 in state job training grants.

“Some of those are still operating under a contract that the company had said they were going to follow through on over the next few years, but we don’t invest in training dollars in companies and hope that they stay a few years,” he says. “We invest in training dollars in companies and hope they stay here forever.”

Pence met with Carrier and UTEC executives a day after the House voted to force the company to give back that money.

He says Carrier executives blamed federal regulations for the move to Mexico, but says he doesn’t know why Indiana’s plants are closing and not others.

“They said to us that this had nothing to do with the business policies or the people of the state of Indiana,” Pence says. “Look, we’ve got the best workers in the United States of America here. So, beats me why they’re leaving Indiana and they’re going to continue to operate in other states.”

He says the companies exit isn't final yet, and says until it is, the state will offer any help it can that might persuade them to stay.

Pence says he told executives he's disappointed in the abruptness of the announcement, which caught state and federal officeholders off guard.

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