At Carrier, the Factory Trump Saved, Morale Is Through the Floor - NYT

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/business/economy/carrier-trump-absenteeism-morale.html

Seems Carrier is having problems with absenteeism and getting production where they want. The workers feel like the rug may be pulled out from underneath them at any time, so they call in.

My brother has worked for a comptetitor of Carrier's for three decades. Four days after a tornado destroyed Lennox's Marshalltown, Iowa factory, Lennox said they would rebuild, not move production out of the country. I expect that sort of commitment to the employees' futures will make problems like Carriers less common there. When people give the bulk of their time and energy and lives to a corporation, they not only deserve decent wages and benefits - they deserve to have security and respect. So what if the execs have to give up a second vacation home or some huge stock bonuses. We all have to make sacrifices to make this country work, dontcha know.

from the article:

What’s ailing Carrier isn’t weak demand. Furnace sales are strong, and managers have increased overtime and even recalled 150 previously laid-off workers. Instead, employees share a looming sense that a factory shutdown is inevitable — that Carrier has merely postponed the closing until a more politically opportune moment.

In some ways, the situation is a metaphor for blue-collar work and life in the United States today. Paychecks are a tad fatter and the economic picture has brightened slightly, but no one feels particularly secure or hopeful.
“People still don’t trust Carrier,” said Paul Roell, a group leader who has worked at the plant for 19 years. “They still have the warehouses and the factory in Mexico, and they can move down whenever. We all know that Carrier has the money to do whatever they want.”

Several times in late July and early August, so many workers were missing that the furnace line had to shut down in midday — even more disruptive than an early-morning halt. That hadn’t happened in years, employees said. Some workers cite illness, while others claim days under the Family and Medical Leave Act, saying they are taking care of sick relatives.