Carrier Closing Smyrna Facility

SMYRNA, TN — Sixty-four people will lose their jobs this spring, as Carrier Corporation announced plans to idle its Smyrna distribution and warehouse facility. The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning company will shift the operations that had been handled in Rutherford County to a third-party vendor in Chattanooga, a corporate spokeswoman told The Tennessean.

According to the required WARN paperwork filed with the state, the facility is scheduled to close at the end of March.

"This new arrangement will combine warehouse and distribution operations into a single, third-party logistics location operated by an organization with extensive expertise in these fields," company spokesperson Michelle Caldwell told The Tennessean.

Caldwell said the effected workers will be eligible for severance pay and placement assistance, in addition to tuition assistance. They will also be eligible to apply for jobs with the third-party vendor and elsewhere within Carrier.

Carrier's jobs placement have been in the headlines, as the company's announced plans to move 1,400 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico were an example President-elect Donald Trump used on the campaign trail of manufacturing jobs off-shored as a result of NAFTA and other free-trade deals. In early December, Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, struck a deal that will keep 800 jobs in the Hoosier State, though 600 fan-coil manufacturing jobs will still relocate south of the border. The state of Indiana will give the company some $7 million in tax breaks as part of the deal.