Letters to the Editor -- Morning Star -- Closure affects everyone.

The closure of our workplace has affected approximately 300 people. Keep adding up the numbers, for that figure is only the directly employed personnel of the plant. Their families come next, for most have spouses, children and extended families. In this valley, the circle ever widens. We are also some of the best-paid workers in the area, under one roof for the past 39 years. We are a union and enjoy wages, benefits and a health plan that we fought for. We deserved it, as we are one of the best in our industry.

We live and work and play here in these communities around us and we are generous with our earnings. Taxes, homes, toys, vacation homes on the lake, ski condos on the hill, golf memberships, music lessons, sports teams, charities and on and on. We make it and we spend it. The contributions of the people of this plant go far beyond the scope of most community members' imaginations. The ever-widening circle is mind boggling. Every business in this valley will be directly affected by this plant closure. From the banking to the personal, professional and medical necessities, to the leisure and entertainment aspects that we all enjoy.

Most of the people at the plant own their homes and the tax base that is paid mostly to Vernon, Coldstream, Lumby and Armstrong is substantial. We are not a few people becoming unemployed, we are 300 strong. Will we get the help and support needed to transition us back into the community when most have been at the same job for over 25 years right out of high school? That is yet to be seen. It is at best, for most of us, an absolute shock, and disbelief that an industry in which a product that is in high demand, competitive on the global market, and 100 per cent recyclable could now be defunct.

So how, you ask, can this happen? Most of you have read the papers and watched the news. The story is a similar one all over the country. American-owned company in Canada losing money, contributing factors — high cost of energy, fuel, transportation to market, not globally profitable. Well, we were the exception to some of those reasons.

Many people who live here didn't even know that the plant existed. Let us educate you. We make glass bottles. Not just any old glass bottles, but the best in the world. We have the finest silica sand from Golden, B.C., and our glass is often called "CRYSTAL," by not just the competition, but by our other plants around the world. If you have a wine bottle from Lavington and one from a plant in California or Mexico or China, you will, even with an untrained eye, see the difference in quality and clarity of our product. WE make the best and WE have been told that for 19 years.

We also have an extremely well-trained and quality-conscious group of employees, from the highest management office workers to the unionized "grunt" force of specialized task people. The list can go on and on about each job but the point is this: most of us put in a hot, arduous, often monotonous, day's work to earn our wages and take pride in being the best that we can be in this global economy. We may complain and dislike various aspects of our jobs and sometimes the people we work with. But at the end of the day, we have earned our money ten-fold and the trucks take our product to an extremely appreciative customer somewhere in the world who has demanded the glass from IO Lavington only. And we did it together, all 300 of us.

Now to hear at the last minute the laments of Coldstream and Vernon councils about their "efforts" to extract help and answers to keep this plant open is the most major slap in the face that all 300 of us have seen so far. Let's see... election coming up...useless present mayoral candidates...last-ditch attempt to save face...I cannot wait to see the slip and slide of our present-day councils down the hill. Not one of you stood up for us or tried to even go out and on a tour of the plant and see what we were all about. So when you are voted out and working for peanuts...and I can promise you that will be struggling like the 300 of us...remember where you stood when we all fell.

So now that the plant is shut down for good and the "LAVINGTON FAMILY" is disbanded, we hope that the people of this valley think of us and the loss to the area as a whole. We are hoping for better things, new opportunities and a welcoming community to support us. We have a lot to offer in many different skill areas and we look forward to using those skills to continue contributing to our communities in a positive manner.

Thank you.

G.L. Kanasevich

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