Anchor Hocking workers could get $7 hourly raise, $500 bonus to move from Charleroi to Ohio

Anchor Hocking workers who agree to move from Charleroi to Ohio could get a $7 hourly pay raise and a $500 bonus as the company shifts its Corelle Brands operations away from the Mon Valley.

The company is delaying closing its Charleroi plant from mid-February until April, said James Watt, a United Steelworkers staff representative for the 200 production and maintenance workers remaining at the plant.

Mark Eichorn, chief executive of Anchor Hocking, could not be reached for comment.

The company also has offered more money to skilled workers willing to relocate to Lancaster, Ohio, to train workers on operating the glassmaking machinery. They will get a $7-an-hour pay raise and a $500 bonus, plus paid hotel accommodations, Watt said, adding that many of the skilled tradesmen already have comparable jobs waiting for them when the plant closes and they are staying at the Charleroi glass plant to get their severance.

Lancaster is about 170 miles from Charleroi in the Columbus metropolitan area.

“That tells me that Mr. Mark Eichorn’s plan (to close the plant) is failing already,” Watt said.

Only four workers have accepted Anchor Hocking’s offer of a full-time job in Lancaster, requiring them to relocate, Watt said.

“I think it is the loyalty of the membership to the plant and their fellow workers,” Watt said.

Anchor Hocking filed a Worker Adjustment and Notification Act last week with the state Department of Labor and Industry, announcing its intention to delay the plant closing, Watt said, but the state has yet to publish it on the department’s website. Corelle Brands’ initial announcement in October listed layoffs of about 173 workers as of Dec. 9, 60 more as of Dec. 20 and the final 26 to end their employment on Feb. 17.

The change in the closing date also will result in the anticipated shutdown of glassmaking operations pushed back until the end of January, Watt said. By the end of April, the only employees remaining will be in the shipping and receiving department, Watt said.

The union is in negotiations with Anchor Hocking on the benefits members will receive as a result of the closing. Anchor Hocking is offering workers one week of pay plus one day of wages for each year they worked at the plant.

Anchor Hocking announced in September it planned to close the 132-year-old plant that is a main employer in the Charleroi area. The news was met with protests from workers; state, local and federal officials; and the USW.

As part of the effort to keep the plant, state Attorney General Michelle Henry obtained a temporary restraining order from a federal judge last month that blocked Anchor Hocking from moving equipment to Ohio.

The state attorney general argued that the private equity firm Centre Lane Partners already owned Anchor Hocking when it obtained the Pyrex business unit of Corelle Brands in March, which allowed it to control about 90% of the glass bakeware market by acquiring both Pyrex and Corelle Brands.