Since the strike by our brothers and sisters from IAM Lodge 105 and GMP Local 59 began last week, our unions have continued to try to engage Libbey management in good faith negotiations for fair contracts covering all workers in Toledo.
Although our contract explicitly protected members of USW Locals 700T and 65T rights to honor the picket line, management unilaterally and without notice terminated everyone’s health insurance while the agreement was still in effect, so the USW has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
Management’s take-it-or-leave-it approach to negotiations and refusal to amend its “final offer” to address the issues raised by our committee are at odds with the company’s public sentiment that “contracts are best reached at the bargaining table – not through strikes.”
In truth, the company has proposed a variety of economic and non-economic concessions that negatively impact the security of all of our jobs, earnings and retirements, and by trying to force workers to accept them, management has left hourly workers no choice but to participate in the labor dispute.
Libbey’s insistence to individual union members and the public that its contract offer is “competitive” means little in light of the fact that the tentative agreement was overwhelmingly rejected by all four of the Toledo bargaining units.
Further, the company has not provided information to back up its claim that Toledo is “the highest cost facility in Libbey’s global manufacturing network.” Without information to substantiate that claim and the company’s vague threats about the future competitiveness of the Toledo plant in the “worldwide glassware market,” we cannot take management’s words at face value.
Nevertheless, we must continue to stand together in unity and solidarity, and as negotiations resume, we hope that the company will change its approach at the table and bargain with us in good faith for the fair contract we have earned and deserve.