CHARLEROI — Mark Yankosky has worked as an electrician at a glassworks in Charleroi for 16 years and worries about what will happen to him and the community if the factory closes at the end of the year as planned.
“We are here trying because we hope we can save this place,” Jankoski said at the rally. Friday near the plant in the Mon Valley community, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. “A lot of people’s lives depend on these jobs.”
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, neighborhood leaders and glassworks workers attended a rally at the Corelle Brands glass factory in a last-ditch effort to save 300 jobs at the plant.
Mark Eichhorn, CEO of Corelle’s parent company, Anchor Hocking, which is owned by Centre Lane Partners, informed employees earlier this month that the plant would be closed and about half of the jobs would be transferred to a facility in Lancaster, Ohio.
Yankoksy said he thought McCormick bringing attention to the situation was a good thing, “but I honestly don’t believe there’s much he can do. But we’ve got to try.”
He said there aren’t many other options for him in town if the glassworks closes. “Maybe Walmart,” he said.
Charleroi Borough Councilman Larry Celaschi, a Republican, slammed U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, McCormick’s Democratic opponent. He said Casey sent “two assistants” to meet with them three days ago. “They had no idea of the scale of what was happening in Charleroi. They didn’t even know The Quality Pasta pasta factory has been closed and Charleroi lost 100 jobs on the Friday before Labor Day.”
Danielle Byrne, vice president of Charleroi United Steelworkers Local 53G Corelle Brands — who corrected McCormick when he said he worked for Anchor Hocking — said the plant’s closure would “devastate” Charleroi. “On top of that, 300 hard-working people will lose their well-paying jobs and be out of work,” she said. Some of the workers have worked at the plant for decades, she added.
McCormick held a glass measuring cup of Pyrex made at the factory as he greeted dozens of workers holding signs saying, “Keep making Pyrex in Charleroi” and “Bob stays, PA pays.”
McCormick told employees he understood “how important these jobs are to your families, how important they are to the community” and placed the blame on Casey.
“A lot of the challenges that we have here in Charleroi and here throughout our community are because of bad leadership,” he said. “You know, we didn’t have a fair deal with China. And China was able to dump their products or subsidize their products, and that wasn’t fair to Pennsylvania producers. You know, we had too many burdensome regulations, and Bob Casey didn’t do anything about it.”
The plant closure was apparently the result of a failed corporate takeover attempt that did not involve China.
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Following a campaign event Friday in Montgomery County with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Casey told the Capital-Star that the plant closure was “another case of a corporation trying to close something in a community to the detriment of that community.”
Casey added that he hoped Charleroi “will become a focus for every leader of every party to assist them solve the economic challenge that we are facing right now.
“And I hope that any public official or political candidate who comes to Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Washington County, or anywhere else, and talks about the challenges that we face on immigration or border security, they do so in a responsible manner,” he added.
Casey said that although he hasn’t been to Charleroi recently, he has long fought on behalf of the people of Washington County, “bringing jobs and growth and supporting their children with the child tax credit, investing in schools in Washington County. And I will continue to do that.”
United Steelworkers (USW) District 10 Director Bernie Hall slammed McCormick in a statement Friday and said Casey had contacted the USW about the plant closure and was “continuing to work behind the scenes” to assist union workers at the plant.
“David McCormick has reached a new low by visiting Charleroi to capitalize on the closure of the Pyrex plant and the loss of hundreds of good union jobs,” Hall said in a statement.
“Sam McCormick has inflicted the same kind of pain and suffering on working people by eliminating jobs at his companies, teaching other employers to outsource, and doing business with Chinese companies that undermine the American economy and security,” Hall added. “He is a hypocrite who has lined his own pockets at the expense of ordinary Americans — and he is not fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the hardworking members of the USW.”
Casey sent a letter to Anchor Hocking CEO Mark Eichhorn on Thursday, expressing his “concern” over the news that the company plans to close its Charleroi plant, drawing attention to the 132-year-old glassmaking tradition in the Mon Valley district. He asked for answers to several questions by Oct. 1 about why the company decided to close the plant and urged the company to reconsider.
“Working at this plant supported the families of tens of thousands of proud employees who built it into the local legacy it is today,” Casey wrote. “Your sudden announcement to close the plant will upend the lives of Pennsylvania workers who have contributed to your company’s success.”
Comments from Haitian immigrants
McCormick declined to answer questions Friday about his recent comments about Haitian migrants arriving in Charleroi and burdening local services, a claim first made by former President Donald Trump during a Sept. 12 campaign rally in Tucson. Trump pointed to Charleroi as the site of a “2,000 percent increase in the Haitian migrant population” and that “it is costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and the city is effectively bankrupt.”
McCormick repeated the same claims the next day on social media, posting This “Roads are threatening, schools are overcrowded and police are struggling to keep up with the influx, with “weak immigration policies” being blamed.
But McCormick said Friday that by being there he was trying to “draw attention to the most important issue in this community.”
Sean Logue, chairman of the Washington County Republican Party, said Friday that Haitian immigrants in Charleroi “are not really the problem,” adding that the bigger issue in the community is the plant’s impending closure.
“[The Haitians] have a good reputation in this community,” Logue said. He said there have been problems, such as traffic accidents, “but as far as following the law, going to church and working hard, that’s their reputation,” he said. “It’s very clear that the problem is the federal government threw these people in and then they don’t want to help the local communities.”
It was unclear what, if anything, McCormick would be able to do to prevent the plant from closing, but he said he was showing “solidarity” with the workers. Logue suggested one option could be to delay the plant’s closure to see if a sale is possible.
Gov. Josh Shapiro told the Capital-Star in a statement that the GOP rhetoric surrounding Charleroi is “divisive and undermines the safety of a community that needs help and people willing to work together to provide solutions — not more showboating and division for political gain.”
U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) criticized McCormick’s comments on social media as “anti-American arguments + blaming everything on immigrants.”
State Rep. Bud Cook (R-Washington), whose district includes Charleroi, did not respond to the Capital-Star’s request for comment. Neither did U.S. Congressman Guy Reschenthaler (R-14th District).
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Westmoreland) declined to comment when contacted by the Capital-Star. But she rejected in several social media posts to online comments about Haitian migrants in Charleroi. “These Haitians work hard, send their children to school and open businesses. They are here legally,” she said. “They did not cross our border. Many of them are professionals who fled terrible conditions in their home country.” She added that Haitian migrants have proven to be hardworking people and assist local businesses.
Casey’s office said Friday evening that I sent a letter to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat of Oregon), requesting a confidential report from the Federal Trade Commission on the issue of “Anchor Hocking’s acquisition of control of the Pyrex manufacturing plant in Charleroi.”
Casey wanted to hear specifically about “the failed acquisition of Instant Brands’ home appliance business, including the Charleroi plant, by Centre Lane Partners during Instant Brands’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in 2023. Following the failed acquisition, Centre Lane Partners, Anchor Hocking, took control of the Pyrex plant in Charleroi and now plans to close the plant.”
Casey’s office said that when it learned of Anchor Hocking’s plan to close the plant on Sept. 5, it contacted union leaders at the plant and Charleroi commune officials and “helped convene a task force of county commissioners, commune officials and local economic development leaders.”
In addition, Casey’s office said his staff also notified the White House Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Communities and Economic Recovery, which resulted in federal officials visiting the plant on Sept. 11.
