Bernie with United Steelworkers at Carrier plant in Indianapolis

[BernieforPres2016]

Carrier, a division of United Technologies, is planning on laying off 2100 U.S. workers and moving production to Monterey, Mexico where it will pay workers $3/hour.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/04/29/bernie-sanders-stands-workers-vows-fight-indiana-carrier-plant-closing.html

Here is a portion of Bernie's statement:

<I’m here today to tell all of you that I intend to do everything that I can to prevent United Technologies from shutting down their plants in Indianapolis and Huntington and throwing 2,100 workers out on the street and moving to Monterey, Mexico, where they will pay workers $3 an hour.

This is not acceptable. This is the kind of corporate behavior that is destroying the middle class of this country – and it has got to end.

The greed of United Technologies is almost unbelievable. You can’t make this stuff up. They have no shame.

This is a company that in 2014 provided its retired CEO, Louis Schenevert, with a golden parachute of $172 million – including a pension worth $31 million. And they apparently got rid of him because he was doing a bad job! Imagine what they would have given him if he was doing a good job.

This is a company that could afford to pay its new CEO more than $14 million in total compensation last year.

This is a company which made a profit of more than $7 billion last year.

This is a company that received $6 billion in defense contracts last year from the taxpayers of this country.

And this is a company that has received more than $58 million in corporate welfare from the Export-Import Bank. That is unacceptable.

This is a company that in 2009 received $121 million in federal tax credits designed specifically to keep green manufacturing jobs in the United States.>

[BernieforPres2016]

1. But the former CEO of United Technologies upgraded his yacht and now works for Goldman Sachs!

http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/03/united-technologies-boss-gets-192-million-110-foot-yacht-as-2100-jobs-move-to-mexico-at-3-an-hour/

Senator Joe Donnelly delivered a heartfelt review of what is going on in his home state of Indiana, asking the two SEC nominees, Hester Peirce and Fairfax, what role the SEC should play in the matter. Donnelly stated:

<“Ms. Peirce, I want to tell you a little bit about what happened in Indiana. I know you’re from Ohio. We had 2100 workers fired for a company that said we are at the high end of expectations for earnings; that is in the middle of a $16 billion stock buyback; and they were fired so the jobs could be sent to Mexico for $3 an hour. Among the folks fired were over 60 veterans who had put their lives on the line for our country.

“Going a little bit more into this, the CEO from two years ago, approximately, walked away with a golden parachute of over $190 million in stocks and in others. The present CEO makes over $10 million a year and the savings they’re gonna have by firing all these workers who gave their heart and soul to the company, they say it’s going to be $60 million approximately. I think it’s probably less. But that’s one third of one percent of the stock buyback.”

Senator Donnelly is referring to United Technologies CEO Louis Chenevert who walked away from the company in late 2014 with a golden parachute package valued at “more than $195 million in company stock and pension benefits, according to an analysis by ClearBridge Compensation Group,” as reported by Fortune magazine.

Donnelly may not have been aware of this aspect of the story: While traveling on company business, Chenevert had taken a time-out in Taiwan to observe the progress on his 110-foot yacht that was being built there. Chenevert also had an apparent big-is-better fetish for everything except American jobs. He had evolved from owning a 63-foot yacht to an 85-foot yacht to the super-luxury 110-foot variety. Chenevert has now moved to Goldman Sachs, where it’s unlikely he’ll be getting any push back for his extravagant tastes.>

[JaneyVee]

2. How convenient! Is there a primary coming up?