NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump and his dispute with Steelworkers Local 1999 leader Chuck Jones (all times EST):
3:25 p.m.
A local union president slammed by Donald Trump on Twitter says he won’t stop saying the president-elect is inflating the number of jobs being saved in a deal with Carrier Corp. to stop the closing of an Indianapolis factory.
United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones says he finds Trump’s barbs amusing and that won’t back off despite harassing phone calls since Trump criticized him on Twitter Wednesday night.
Jones tells The Associated Press he’s grateful Trump intervened to stop about 800 jobs from being outsourced to Mexico. But Jones says Trump gave workers false hope by saying 1,100 jobs were being saved. That figure includes positions which the company had always said would remain in Indianapolis.
Trump tweeted that Jones “has done a terrible job representing workers.”
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2:20 p.m.
The international president of the steelworkers union is defending the Indiana union leader who’s been trading barbs with Donald Trump over the president-elect’s deal to save jobs at a Carrier Corp. factory in the state.
Union President Leo Gerard says Local 1999 leader Chuck Jones was “simply clarifying what happened” in the deal that Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence made with Carrier.
Jones says about 800 jobs were saved - 300 less than the 1,100 jobs Trump claims.
Gerard says at a Capitol Hill news conference that Jones is “a very effective and well-qualified local president” who was merely “standing up for his members.”
Trump slammed Jones on Twitter this week, saying he “has done a terrible job representing workers.” Jones challenged Trump to back up his claim.
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