Donald Trump lashes out at union leader on Twitter

Donald Trump is now going after Chuck Jones, the local union leader who represents Carrier employees. He tweeted Wednesday that Jones “has done a terrible job representing workers,” and added, “No wonder companies flee country!”

Jones, who is the president of the United Steelworkers 1999, had initially welcomed Mr. Trump’s announcement last week that he had made a deal with United Technologies, Carrier’s parent company, to preserve 1,100 of the Indianapolis jobs that were going to be eliminated -- several hundred jobs were to be relocated in Mexico.

Carrier then told Jones, according to The Washington Post, that 730 productions jobs would remain in Indiana, and 550 workers would still lose their jobs.

Jones, the Post reported, looked forward to hearing what Mr. Trump’s explanation was.

“But he got up there,” Jones said, “and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off.”

Trump’s tweets Wednesday evening apparently appeared after Jones reiterated his accusations in an appearance on CNN, during which he “called out” Trump on the number of Carrier jobs saved – 800, not 1100 – and called Trump’s statement that he hadn’t singled out Carrier a “complete falsehood.” 

However, Jones also praised Trump for saving the jobs he did save.

Jones told the Wall Street Journal that he’s been receiving threats since Mr. Trump tweeted at him, but he said that they “don’t bother me a whole hell of a lot.”

After the president-elect’s attacks, the Indiana AFL-CIO tweeted its own response, defending Jones as “a man of integrity who ALWAYS puts the interest of workers first,” the tweet read. “To say otherwise is not only false, it’s infuriating.”

CBS News’ Danna Walker, Jane Chick and Philomena Bubaris contributed to this story

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