Retiring USW chief laments labor’s lost clout

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

When Chuck Jones joined the United Steel Workers, unions flexed their power to strike and crossing a picket line could be met with brute force.

That’s now a distant memory, says the retiring president of USW Local 1999, who grabbed headlines in December after he publicly accused then-President-elect Donald Trump of lying about how many jobs he was saving in a deal with furnace and air conditioner maker Carrier Corp.

Like unions across the U.S., the Indianapolis local, which represents workers from Carrier and bearing manufacturer Rexnord Corp., has shed members as factories downsized or shuttered. Many are moving to Mexico, where labor is cheaper.

“You want to leave a job better than you got it. But working-class people in general — we’re not doing good,” said Jones, 65, whose thick, gray mustache, artful use of profanity and ever-present cigarette wedged between his fingers give him the appearance of union boss straight from central casting.

Jones became a steel worker straight out of high school in 1969 during a high tide of the U.S. labor movement that helped propel a generation of blue-collar workers into the middle class. He says his retirement at the beginning of June was “bittersweet” after decades of declining fortunes for working people.

In recent years, contract negotiations have been aimed at trying to give up as few benefits as possible. Helplessness has set in, he says.

U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., agreed: “What happened with Carrier and what is happening around the country isn’t because the workers didn’t keep their end of the deal,” Donnelly said. “Chuck and his team, they basically got thrown under the bus.”

Rexnord issued a statement standing by the relocation of its Indianapolis operations, saying “difficult decisions are a part of today’s business environment.”

As for Carrier, the workers’ plight drew the attention of Trump, who brokered a deal with the company, setting the stage for a moment of fleeting glory for Jones as he prepared to retire.

During a hyped-up announcement at its Indianapolis factory, Trump inaccurately said that 1,100 jobs would be saved. The number was closer to 800.

Jones wasn’t having it and told reporters Trump had lied about the numbers. Trump attacked the union boss on Twitter for doing a “terrible job representing workers” while suggesting that “if United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana.”

In the frenzy that followed, Jones received flowers as well as hate mail. He still stands behind his words, but allows that he could have “toned it down.”

“How (Trump) feels about me, I could care less,” Jones said. He went on to add that it’s not that he’s tough, using another expletive, “because I’m not. I’m an old man. But I’ve been around here some 30 odd years. I’ve had people threaten to burn my house down. People threaten to shoot me when I leave.”

At his retirement party, gifts included a carton of cigarettes, booze — and a framed image of Trump, featuring his tweets about Jones.