USW Locals 59M, 65T, and 700T: Vote Count

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Mr Villarreal.

The USW met with our members of Locals 59M, 65T and 700T, on Thursday, July 31st and Friday, August 1st, to explain the changes that are contained in the Company’s Last Best and Final Offer (LBFO) vs the current Basic Labor Agreement (BLA) that we currently enjoy. Our Members have overwhelmingly rejected the Company’s offer. The vote counts are as follows:

                                  Yes to accept                           No to reject

Local 59M                        0                                                57

Local 65T                         0                                                14

Local 700T                       5                                               231

Total                                 5                                               302

It is important to remember the significant sacrifices our Members, the Employees at Libbey, took to bring the Company out of bankruptcy and liquidation in September of 2020. Those sacrifices were discussed extensively at our explanation meetings as our Members listened to the list of wholesale changes the Company expected them to accept in its LBFO of May 15, 2025 that included a couple of changes proposed by the Company on July 26, 2025.

Those sacrifices of 2020 included the extension of the 2017 BLA for additional  years while the Company and the USW agreed to eliminate previously negotiated wage increases in the 2017 BLA of 2.5% for the years 2020 and 2021 and reduced wages by 5%, during the additional years of the agreed to extension. We agreed to eliminate cost of living payments through September 30, 2024. We agreed to pay more for the healthcare premiums and to eliminate retiree healthcare completely. We also agreed to freeze the Defined Benefit Pension and go to strictly a 401(k) benefit, just name a few. The savings realized by the Company for those changes and others amounted to approximately $31.8 million according to the Company’s 2020 SEC filing. The USW itself went a step further and engaged the U.S. Department of Energy for another $45 million grant for the Company to emerge from bankruptcy and liquidation. The frustration of our Members was evident as they listened to the wholesale changes the Company wanted in the very next Agreement after their sacrifices were made.

The Company is proposing a total rewrite of the Parties BLA. The changes proposed would eliminate hard-fought gains made through years of collective bargaining with Libbey Glass, that our Members are not willing to agree to. The Company’s proposal would eliminate the BLA’s of the of all 3 USW represented Local Unions and would drastically eliminate rights of the Local Union Representatives to represent our members, eliminate seniority rights, expand managements rights to unilaterally change working conditions in the facility without input from the Union, mandate a more  expensive healthcare plan, mandate longer working hours with no premium pay, change or eliminate lunch and break times for production purposes, eliminate historical work jurisdictions within the Local Unions and allow the Company to make discretionary decisions over issues that would normally be mandatory subjects of bargaining and more.

Having said that, it is not the Union’s intent to strike Libbey Glass. Our Members are going to continue to come to work, make the best product in the industry and ensure Libbey Glass is profitable and successful and we expect to return to collective bargaining as soon as possible. I am requesting a meeting with you to discuss how we can move forward and resume collective bargaining between the Parties, to achieve a fair and equitable Agreement for the Company and our Members, your Employees.

I look forward to hearing from you as we work together to bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion.  

Sincerely,

Donald E. Blatt
USW District 1 Director
Ohio/Michigan

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