President Donald Trump has been pressuring companies to keep factories and manufacturing jobs in the U.S., but some companies are pushing ahead with plans to move their plants to Mexico anyway.
Rexnord Corp., which produces gears, ball bearings, and valves, came under fire two months ago for its relocation plans.
“Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers,” Trump tweeted. “This is happening all over our country. No more!”
Despite the president’s criticisms, Rexnord is still moving its industrial bearings factory in Indianapolis abroad. The factory workers are already packing up the equipment and training their Mexican replacements, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“That’s a real kick in the ass to be asked to train your replacement,” machinist Tim Mathis, who has worked for Rexnord for 12 years, told WSJ reporters. As the training of replacement workers is not mandatory, many U.S. workers reportedly refused to help.
Layoffs are expected to start this month, and the factory will be closed by June. The relocation to Mexico is part of a plan to save the company more than $30 million annually.
While some jobs will be kept in the U.S., many employment opportunities are expected to be lost to Mexico.
“It just puzzles me to think that they have to reduce costs by dumping us out,” Gary Canter, a machinist who has worked at the Rexnord factory for eight years, told reporters. “It’s very un-American.”
In late January, Rexnord workers rallied to get the president’s attention. “Hopefully President Trump and Vice President Pence will hear our voice and come calling, like he did for Carrier,” one worker said, referring to the deal Trump made with Carrier in December to save 1,000 American jobs that might have otherwise been lost to Mexico.
“Difficult decisions are a part of today’s business environment,” a Rexnord spokeswoman explained. “To be a viable company that contributes to economic growth, we must meet customers’ needs with high-quality products at competitive prices.”
She said that Rexnord still has an estimated 4,000 employees working in the U.S.
Rexnord president and CEO Todd Adams reportedly said last week that the move to Mexico wouldn’t be “something that we would regret.”
“We’re very much a U.S. manufacturer, but … we have to manufacture in a lot of different places to be an effective participant in the marketplace,” he added.
Adams said he is “confident in Rexnord’s ability to adapt to the changes in the market.”
“We’re still fighting the fight to keep them from moving,” explained Chuck Jones, a local union leader that represents the company’s workers in Indianapolis.
“We will fight until the very end,” said one Rexnord worker.
Rexnord’s communications representative could not be reached by The Daily Caller News Foundation in time for comment.
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