Asked about the failure to keep the Huntington plant open, a White House spokesman said last week
that Mr. Trump was “incredibly proud to work with United Technologies to save nearly 1,000 jobs in Indiana and will continue to work with major companies to ensure he is doing all he can to increase American manufacturing, job creation and economic growth.”
Huntington’s mayor, Brooks Fetters, admits when pressed to being frustrated
that he never heard back from Mr. Pence’s office after he called late last year to find out why Huntington was not helped.
But the plant in Huntington operated by United Technologies Electronic Controls, or UTEC, was not part of
that deal — nor would it be helped by the “buy American” mandate for federal infrastructure projects that Mr. Trump promised in Wisconsin last week.
For the most part, the workers do not fault Mr. Trump for failing to preserve
their jobs, even as he took credit for keeping the Indianapolis plant open.
It’s a slap in the face.”
Workers like Ms. Barnett and Ms. Saylors might have been surprised, but outsourcing factory jobs was hardly a secret on Wall Street.
“I loved my job,” said Ms. Saylors, who earns $17.31 an hour as a materials specialist, readying parts for the workers on the assembly line.
“We are not a dying town,” he said, citing the $1.4 million expansion last fall of a learning center opposite the high
school, where teenagers as well as adults can earn certificates in fields like advanced manufacturing and health care.
