Theres not a hope alive for us: A factory Trump targeted begins its move to Mexico

The list came up Tuesday morning, near the assembly line. Twenty-three names. Twenty-three dates. And two words everyone dreaded: TENTATIVE LAYOFFS.

Rexnord, an industrial supplier in Indianapolis, was starting the two-month process of closing the factory and moving nearly 300 jobs to Monterrey, Mexico.

Brian Reed, 45, knew this would happen. But he didn’t expect it to twist his gut. He has worked a quarter century here, and his name topped the white piece of paper. Human resources had typed out his seniority number, too (12/07/1992).

The company announced it was ending its six-decade run in America’s heartland about three weeks before President Trump won the election. The move, Rexnord told the local union in a letter, would allow it to “o perate in a more cost-effective manner.”

In other words, Reed’s livelihood was just another casualty of old-school manufacturing’s steady decline, a dwindling driven by trade, automation and consumer demand. Roughly 5 million such jobs have vanished since 2000, disproportionately rocking the Midwest.

Then on one surreal December day, Trump thrust a plant that would have otherwise shuttered quietly into the national spotlight. “Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers,” he tweeted. “This is happening all over our country. No more!”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/%e2%80%98there%e2%80%99s-not-a-hope-alive-for-us%e2%80%99-a-factory-trump-targeted-begins-its-move-to-mexico/ar-BBz1D06?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp