Published: August 26, 2008 7:00 PM
Gene Wirch was direct when asked for a general reaction to Friday’s announcement of the impending closure of the Owens-Illinois Incorporated (O-I) glass container plant in Lavington.
“It sucks, how’s that?” said Wirch, business representative for Teamsters Local 213, the union that covers the majority of close to 300 non-management and non-supervisor workers at the Lavington plant.
Employees found out Friday the parent company plans a complete and permanent shutdown of the facility by Oct. 31.
Company president Scott Murchison said the decision to close the Lavington plant was made to shift production to other O-I North American facilities to help lower energy and production costs for the company.
“There was no indication (of a shutdown),” said Wirch.
“You may have seen some signs, but there was nothing to suggest this was going to happen.”
Wirch said he had not talked directly with anyone from O-I’s Ohio-based offices in regards to the announcement.
The Lavington facility is the third such plant in Canada that O-I has announced it will be closing in the fall.
The others are located in Toronto and New Brunswick.
“They bought the Canadian plants, got as much out of them as they possibly could to a point where they would have to put those investments back into them,” said Wirch, adding that no capital investments had been made into the Lavington operation on such items as machinery.
“Obviously, with those plants, they had no intention of putting any capital costs back into them.”
Asked what the union can do for the employees now facing unemployment, Wirch said a lot is unknown at this time.
“The company, as far as their obligations, have no choice in some situations, but in others they may have some choice if they want to do the right thing by the employers,” he said.
“There have been no discussions with the company at this point.”
O-I’s practice for any type of plant shutdown or layoff is to work with the union and appropriate government officials to deal with necessary plant closure issues.
“We work to provide services that will be aimed at helping any displaced employees secure new employment,” said Lauren Dubilzig, from O-I’s corporate communications office in Perrysburg, Ohio.
“That employment could be both internal and external.”
Dubilzig said Lavington employees will be encouraged to apply for jobs at other facilities.
“Depending on the availability at those facilities, and their skills, they may be able to transfer,” she said.
Dubilzig confirmed Monday employees will be getting a severance package, but would not go into specific details about the packages.
“We do keep those details confidential between employees and the company,” she said.
O-I owns the plant and plans to sell it. Dubilzig could not say if there were any interested buyers at this point.
Gene Wirch was direct when asked for a general reaction to Friday’s announcement of the impending closure of the Owens-Illinois Incorporated (O-I) glass container plant in Lavington.
“It sucks, how’s that?” said Wirch, business representative for Teamsters Local 213, the union that covers the majority of close to 300 non-management and non-supervisor workers at the Lavington plant.
Employees found out Friday the parent company plans a complete and permanent shutdown of the facility by Oct. 31.
Company president Scott Murchison said the decision to close the Lavington plant was made to shift production to other O-I North American facilities to help lower energy and production costs for the company.
“There was no indication (of a shutdown),” said Wirch.
“You may have seen some signs, but there was nothing to suggest this was going to happen.”
Wirch said he had not talked directly with anyone from O-I’s Ohio-based offices in regards to the announcement.
The Lavington facility is the third such plant in Canada that O-I has announced it will be closing in the fall.
The others are located in Toronto and New Brunswick.
“They bought the Canadian plants, got as much out of them as they possibly could to a point where they would have to put those investments back into them,” said Wirch, adding that no capital investments had been made into the Lavington operation on such items as machinery.
“Obviously, with those plants, they had no intention of putting any capital costs back into them.”
Asked what the union can do for the employees now facing unemployment, Wirch said a lot is unknown at this time.
“The company, as far as their obligations, have no choice in some situations, but in others they may have some choice if they want to do the right thing by the employers,” he said.
“There have been no discussions with the company at this point.”
O-I’s practice for any type of plant shutdown or layoff is to work with the union and appropriate government officials to deal with necessary plant closure issues.
“We work to provide services that will be aimed at helping any displaced employees secure new employment,” said Lauren Dubilzig, from O-I’s corporate communications office in Perrysburg, Ohio.
“That employment could be both internal and external.”
Dubilzig said Lavington employees will be encouraged to apply for jobs at other facilities.
“Depending on the availability at those facilities, and their skills, they may be able to transfer,” she said.
Dubilzig confirmed Monday employees will be getting a severance package, but would not go into specific details about the packages.
“We do keep those details confidential between employees and the company,” she said.
O-I owns the plant and plans to sell it. Dubilzig could not say if there were any interested buyers at this point.
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