Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand requests help for Carrier workers

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Gillibrand sent a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis this morning requesting the agency provide the discretionary award that expands funding in response to significant layoffs.

Carrier Corp. announced in August that it will close the parts warehouse, cutting 170 union and non-union jobs to relocate the work to Tennessee, which is closer to a majority of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning sales. The company twice rejected the union's officer to cut pay in order to keep jobs in DeWitt. The offer would have saved the company $7.8 million, the union said.

Carrier workers who lost their jobs in 2004 when the company closed its last DeWitt factory got additional money from the federal government to retrain because their jobs went to factories in Asia.

Workers to be laid off when the warehouse closes next year aren't eligible for that program because their jobs are only moving to another state.

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