CHARLEROI, Pa. – A century-old glass factory is closing, placing 300 individuals out of a job, and Dave McCormick, the Republican difficult Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, needs to reserve it.
“I’m here today to stand in solidarity with these workers in the fight to keep these jobs here,” McCormick advised a crowd of workers, retirees and their households Friday.
Anchor Hocking introduced this month plans to shutter its Corelle Brand factory that makes iconic Pyrex glassware — and has supported the native economic system since 1892.
The plant survived the steel-mill and coal-mine shutdowns that hollowed out Mon Valley’s industrial communities in the Nineteen Eighties.
Now its company proprietor is dismantling gear and shifting to Ohio — however the workers are aiming to cease it, enlisting no matter assist they will.
United Steelworkers Local 53G Vice President Daniele Byrne, whose grandfather labored in the factory and who met her husband there, mentioned the shutdown “would cripple over 300 families and help destroy the pride of the Mon Valley.”
Byrne mentioned she known as many individuals to “help save us” however didn’t hear again. “Dave McCormick was the first person to offer to come to Charleroi.”
McCormick recalled the battle of his mates’ dad and mom after the carpet factory shut down in Bloomsburg, Pa., the place he went to highschool: “I know what happens when the anchor for a community shrinks or goes away.”
“I don’t want to see this plant leave Charleroi, and I don’t want to see these employees lose their jobs. I will keep fighting for them until a victory is at hand,” he declared.
The glass factory was the second cease on McCormick’s Price of Poor Leadership Tour, which has allowed the previous hedge-fund government to highlight the issues of working-class Pennsylvanians and take photographs at Casey, who’s spent practically 18 years in the Senate.
The technique appears to be working — three new polls discover Casey’s longtime lead narrowing, with one displaying him forward by simply 1 level.
McCormick arrived in a large marketing campaign bus and shook palms with workers, who gave him Pyrex merchandise, together with the ever-present glass measuring cup.
Dozens of workers shaped a wall of indicators behind him that learn, “KEEP MAKING PYREX IN CHARLEROI,” with yellow indicators from the McCormick marketing campaign peeking by: “BOB STAYS, PA PAYS.”
Erin Guzik, whose boyfriend is a plant supervisor, advised The Post, “I don’t know how I’m going to raise my child in a town without industry.”
The veterinary nurse is undecided about who she’ll vote into the White House and Senate. She went for the Green Party in 2016 and President Biden in 2020.
But she’s “leaning more towards Dave McCormick now that he showed up and is supporting us,” she mentioned.
Guzik mentioned she known as quite a few Democratic places of work, together with these of Casey, Sen. John Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro, and by no means heard again.
“They’re supporters of the Mon Valley and industry being kept in the valley, so I’m surprised they weren’t here,” she mentioned.
Though she’d welcome Casey’s assist, she mentioned, “I can’t name one thing that he’s done that’s helped me.”
Casey despatched a letter final week to Anchor Hocking CEO Mark Eichhorn and requested why the corporate has chosen to “upend the lives of Pennsylvania workers” and the way it bought the regulatory approval to take management of the factory. Its private-equity dad or mum firm’s request was denied final 12 months.
Casey’s letter echoed the issues of Byrne, the native union chief, who accused Anchor Hockings of “price fixing and manipulating the market” and demanded an investigation from the Federal Trade Commission to “see if that was a crooked deal.”
Anchor Hocking didn't reply to a remark request.
McCormick the The Post he supports an FTC investigation into Anchor Hocking’s determination to shut up store right here: “I’d like to see the reasoning of it, and the people here whose lives are affected by that decision have every right to understand the reasoning as well.”
Workers actually agreed.
“The FTC should have stopped that sale,” Don Lutes, a machinist, yelled out from the gang. “Go question the FTC!”
In his remarks, McCormick repeatedly ripped Casey on the plant closure — and on issues throughout the Keystone State.
“Sky-high inflation is putting pressure on every business,” he mentioned. “We’ve had too much onerous regulation, and Bob Casey hasn’t done anything about it.”
“Bob Casey has failed you every step of the way,” McCormick added. “He talks a lot about manufacturing jobs, but he hasn’t done a thing to make your jobs easier and keep great opportunities here in Charleroi.”
Casey marketing campaign spokeswoman Kate Smart responded by calling McCormick “the poster boy for the Wall Street greed that put jobs like those at Anchor Hocking at risk.”
Don Lutes, an Obama-Trump voter, shook McCormick’s hand and advised The Post he appreciated the candidate being “supportive.”
“Anybody can write a letter,” he mentioned. But “making personal appearances makes a world of difference.”
