Charleroi glass factory to close by the end of the year, more than 300 employees to be thrown out of work
A Charleroi glass factory that has been a fixture in the Mon Valley community for more than a century will be closing by the end of the year, a union official has confirmed.
More than 300 employees at the plant will be out of work as a result.
Workers at the World Kitchen plant were told Wednesday that operations at the facility would be shifted to an Anchor Hocking glass plant in Lancaster, Ohio, about 30 miles south of Columbus. The employees were told by Mark Eichhorn, the CEO of Anchor Hocking, that about 150 jobs could be opening up at the Lancaster plant that employees of the Charleroi plant could apply for, according to Daniele Byrne, the vice president of the United Steelworkers Local 53G, which represents workers at the plant.
Byrne said that Eichhorn offered to pay the cost of gasoline so employees at the Charleroi plant could drive to Ohio and see the other facility. She also said they will start shipping equipment out of the Charleroi plant as soon as next week.
The announcement that the plant would be closing came as a surprise to workers there, Byrne said. Measuring cups, baking dishes, glass storage and mixing bowls under the Pyrex brand have been produced there, and Byrne said the plant has been working “over capacity.”
“Everyone is walking around here like zombies,” Byrne said. She pointed out there are employees at the plant who have worked there for decades, and the atmosphere at the plant was like a family. She has worked there for 35 years in a variety of roles.
“It’s a good-paying job and it’s local,” she explained.
The news that the World Kitchen factory will be shuttering comes just a week after the announcement that 100 jobs would be lost at the Quality Pasta Company facility in Charleroi. Joe Manning, the borough’s manager, said the closing of the glass factory was not good news for the community, which has been struggling in the decades since steel mills closed and manufacturing has declined.
“We’re devastated,” Manning said, calling the glass plant “deeply ingrained in the Mon Valley and the borough.” He also noted that it would “absolutely have an impact” on Charleroi’s tax base.
Ownership of the glass factory has changed hands numerous times in its long history, with the most recent owners being New York-based Centre Lane Partners, following its acquisition last year of the appliances division of Instant Brands. On Its website, Centre Lane Partners is described as “a private investment firm that invests in the equity and debt of middle market companies in North America.” Anchor Hocking is another company under the Center Lane umbrella.
A representative of Centre Lane Partners did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The history of the plant stretches back to 1893, when it was the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company. In 2018, it was announced that $16 million in upgrades would be made to the plant, and the state awarded a $2.5 million grant to help rebuild a glassmaking tank.