Fetterman calls for investigation into Charleroi plant shutdown
Associated Press
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has asked the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to investigate the chain of events prompting Anchor Hocking’s decision to shut down its Charleroi glass manufacturing plant.
In a letter sent Thursday to FTC Chair Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, Fetterman is also demanding that the company and its private equity partners be held accountable in the event it is determined that wrongdoing occurred.
“Anchor Hocking and the private equity firms responsible for this decision aren’t just putting more than 300 Pennsylvanians out of a job, they’re also taking a swing at Charleroi’s identity,” the letter reads. “I want to be absolutely certain that the federal government has pursued all possible avenues for recourse, so I urge you to investigate the events and transactions that preceded this announcement, including Instant Brands’s bankruptcy proceedings in 2023 and the apparent acquisition of Instant Brands’s housewares division by Anchor Hocking and Center Lane in March 2024.”
Anchor Hocking announced earlier this month that it would be shutting down the Charleroi plant by year end. The factory, which employs 300 people and has operated in the borough for 132 years, was taken over by Anchor Hocking, which is owned by a private equity firm, in March.
In the letter, Fetterman highlights the practice of private equity purchasing a company and quickly relocating in hopes of making more money elsewhere.
“The story of corporations coming into Western Pennsylvania’s communities and stripping them for parts is all too common,” Fetterman wrote. “For 14 years, I was mayor of a town that saw 90% of its people leave after the steel industry abandoned the very workers who built our country. Now, we’re seeing private equity firms do the same thing in Charleroi: buy up a productive factory, strip it for parts, fire the workers, and let corporate executives collect fat bonuses. It’s despicable.”
Kristin Hopkins-Calcek, president of Charleroi Borough Council, said local officials have met with lawmakers in an effort to keep the plant open.
“We all met together in rapid response to the situation,” she said Friday. “I have the utmost respect for, and knew we could count on, people in our legislature to make sure we cover all of the bases and look at all the angles to the situation. I’m hopeful that we can get a positive solution to this, but I’m also proud of our lawmakers for stepping up and for putting in the work. “We knew we could depend on them. They’re doing everything in their power to keep our industry here.”