Glass plant closes, more than 400 lose jobs
2.4.10 / News / By Russel Pekelnicky
Clarion's Owens-Brockway Glass plant prepares to shut its doors permanently this summer (Courtesy graphic / Owens-Illinois)
The Clarion Owens-Brockway Glass plant is preparing to shut its doors for good July 1. In a press release sent out on Jan. 27, Owens-Illinois, the parent company of Owens-Brockway, is closing the plant due to a lack of production volume. The plant has been called one of the most expensive for the company to operate.
More than 400 employees from the factory have been given the option to transfer to different factories. According to O-I president Miguel Escobar, “While we regret the impact this has on our Clarion employees, it is imperative that we take such actions to ensure the long-term health of the company.”
According to the press release, union leaders and company officials will meet to discuss further details. Employees of the plant could not be reached for comment on the matter.
Many in the community are concerned about the plant’s closure, among them senior communications major R.J. Fiorenzo. “It will have a huge effect on the community; hundreds of people will lose their jobs,” Fiorenzo said. “I believe it’s one of the larger, if not largest, employers outside of Clarion University in the area.”
Senior psychology major Tracy Milchick worries about the closure’s impact on the local economy. “I’m mostly concerned about the unemployment rate in this community. It was already around 9 percent, and this can only worsen it. To have such a large workforce unemployed is going to make it even harder to find a job. I think it will be especially hard for students to find jobs in the area.”
Kendra Craddock, a Michelle’s Café barista and ten-year resident of Clarion, sees the factory closing as detrimental to the economic stability of the region. “It’s never a good thing when this happens,” Craddock said. “It’s going to have a trickle effect on the whole area. This effects everyone from Michelle’s Café to Crooks. It affects truck drivers, retail, restaurants, everyone.”
However, Milchick sees opportunity in the closing. “I know it would be financially difficult, but I think this could be a great opportunity for some of the factory workers, while receiving unemployment benefits to return to school and earn a degree.”
Fiorenzo said, “I think it will affect full-time residents of Clarion more than college students, but it will lead to higher unemployment and an increase in poverty in the area.”
Fiorenzo said, “I’d also assume it will become difficult for Clarion students to find employment now that hundreds of former employees at the glass plant will be looking for work.”
Fiorenzo said, “I think it’s terrible, a lot of full-time employees will be out of jobs. Western Pennsylvania and Ohio had lost most of the industry.”
Milchick also sympathizes with employees. “Being part of a working-class family, I know what it’s like for a parent to have been laid off, not knowing what was going to happen next. My heart goes out to the families of those workers.”
Craddock says, “It’s really unfortunate that Clarion County is losing more jobs, especially in this time when the economy’s so bad. It’s hard to get a good middle-class job in the area that pays as well.”
Russel Pekelnicky is a news staff writer for The Call.
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