Ohio-based Owens-Brockway is laying off 93 union members at its Northeast Portland glass plant starting Dec. 30. Six of them are members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 330; the other 87 are in Local 112M in the GMP Council of United Steelworkers. [GMP stands for Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers, which merged with USW in 2016.]
Located at 9710 N.E. Glass Plant Road just west of I-205 and North of Killingsworth, the Owens-Brockway plant is very distinctive looking, with a roof shaped like the head of a wrench. That’s common with glass plants, for ventilation.
The plant makes bottles for beer and wine, but with orders down, the company is indefinitely idling one of its furnaces.
Because the company has opened a new facility in Mexico, trade is considered a factor in the layoff, and an application for benefits under the Trade Act program is pending. The federally funded program helps workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign competition, with extended unemployment benefits, training funds, a wage subsidy for older workers, and other benefits.
