PORT ALLEGANY – Pittsburgh Corning officials and union
representatives met Wednesday as planned, but efforts to negotiate
special, outside-the-contract provisions for soon-to-be idled union
employees failed.

A joint statement issued Thursday stated as follows:

“Officials of USW Local 1019 and a representative of the
national office met with management of Pittsburgh Corning on
Wednesday, November 29, 2006, to discuss the effects of the
shutdown of 1 melter.

“David Spader, president of USW Local 1019, and Don Tanner, vice
president of human resources stated there was no agreement reached
on providing additional coverage’s outside of what is in the
current bargaining agreement.

“The company informed the union of the number of employees that
would be laid off on or around Feb. 1, 2007. This number is based
on business forecasts at this time. We do not think it prudent to
release this figure until employees are notified which will be by
early next week.

“Affected employees who are laid off are entitled to an
extension of medical, drug and dental benefits. The parties are
investigating avenues for training and retraining of those
employees affected by this lay off. Further while employees on lay
off are eligible for recall it is anticipated that most would not
be recalled during 2007.”

The company issued an abrupt announcement Nov. 16, saying it
would shut down one of two melters at the Port Allegany plant as of
Feb. 1.

That statement said it was expected that fewer than 50 employees
would be affected.

The company was investigating “all avenues of training and
governmental support” for the workers who would be furloughed.

No further word was forthcoming from the company until Tanner
told a reporter Tuesday that company and union people would hold
discussions the next day. He said he had been on vacation.

In the meantime, some employees were willing to share
information and concerns with the community. Employee sources said
they understood the lay-off would go as deep as 15 years of
seniority. They said they had been told that all departments would
be affected. They understood that the “fewer than 50” estimate from
the company did not include supervisory or non-union positions, and
believed the total would be more like 60 persons.

Many expressed worries about their futures, even though they
understood there might be special retraining programs
available.

“There is supposed to be government help for retraining people
who are losing jobs because of jobs going overseas, or because of
foreign imports,” an employee explained.

Employees mentioned what the company had not, that the planned
halving of local block production signifies something other than,
or in addition to, a diminishing demand for glass blocks. Rather,
they said, it signifies a shift from Pittsburgh Corning’s lifelong
– since 1937 – business model based on production, to one that
includes importing products made in other countries, and selling
them to at least some of the company’s customers.

Employees said the company has obtained blocks from a
manufacturer in China. They said they had been told the prices
being paid by PC for the Chinese blocks, and the shipping costs,
indicating that the combination is less than the costs of producing
similar blocks.

After The Bradford Era printed a news story including the
information, Pittsburgh Corning President and Chief Executive
Officer Phil Martineau circulated a memo to employees, stating his
displeasure that the information had been released.

Martineau did not deny the truth of the material that had been
published, but claimed revealing “trade secrets” (presumably the
pricing or cost information) had harmed the company and its workers
in the competitive arena.

Other sources said the pricing information could be obtained in
other ways by competitors or customers. Some employees said they
thought the community should know about the company’s apparent
strategic shift toward importing ware.

Some said they feared recriminations if they spoke with the
press or “the community,” but also felt that the company might be
using “contract busting tactics” by using cost comparisons to
indicate producing ware costs more than importing it, at least for
some kinds of blocks.

“That’s one way to get concessions,” a union member said.

Pittsburgh Corning has been trying to emerge from Chapter 11.
Its creditor groups include suppliers, lenders and the group of
individuals comprising the plaintiff “class” in a class action over
asbestos exposure.