On Thursday, July 20, hundreds of Carrier employees lost their job as per the string of layoffs announced in February 2016. The company had stated that it would be cutting 1,400 jobs from its Indianapolis factory to reduce the cost of production. July 20 this year was one of the deadlines for the layoffs to occur and left many Carrier employees jobless.

Carrier lays off hundreds of employees in Indianapolis

Back in February last year, the company had stated that it would be cutting 1,400 jobs and outsourcing these to Mexico, where the wages of workers are much lower than in the American counterpart.

In fact, investigations revealed that salaries ranged from as low as $3 per hour without benefits and $6 per hour with benefits. This is why Thursday marked the last day of 338 Carrier employees in the company.

Some of the people opted for voluntary retirement or voluntary early separation deals, but others were simply left without a job. Dozens of employees opted for the voluntary early separation deals because of the severance package that these employees were offered. This package was worked out last year by Carrier and the United Steel Workers Union. The severance package includes one week of pay for each year of employment, a $2,500 payout and medical coverage for six months after the beginning of their separation.

Carrier keeps 800 jobs as promised to President Donald Trump

During his presidential election campaign, Trump had greatly criticized Carrier’s decision of laying off the 1,400 employees. So great was the pressure that the company finally announced in November last year that it would keep 800 of the 1,400 jobs that it had claimed to lay off earlier in the year.

This agreement with the government also has some benefit for the company itself.

Carrier will receive $7 million in state income tax refunds if it continues to employ the 800 additional workers for at least ten years. This is why; on Wednesday, July 19 it released a statement saying that it was ready to honor its agreement and was only looking to cut 600 jobs in Indianapolis.

The agreement also forces Carrier parent company, United Technologies to invest an additional $16 million in the Indianapolis plant.

It remains to be seen what effect these job cuts will have on Carrier’s reputation. The company will next lay off an additional 290 employees later in the year. It revealed that the last of the job cuts would take place three days before the Christmas holidays.