GLENSHAW GLASS FUTURE REMAINS CLOUDY AS LIST OF SUITORS GROWS
Published: Friday, January 21, 2005
By Ron DaParma
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
There’s a growing list of potential buyers who are at least willing to take a look at the closed Glenshaw Glass Co. plant in Shaler.
However, there are no solid offers yet, and those involved in the effort to see if the 110-year-old company can be reborn are proceeding cautiously so as not to raise false hopes.
“There is nothing close. We are trying hard, but we can’t let people know until we have something,” Margaret Good, president of The
Meridian Group, the court-appointed receiver for Glenshaw Glass, said Thursday.
The financially struggling company closed in November, putting more than 300 people out of work.
A letter distributed this week to members of Local 134 of the Glass Molders Pottery Plastics and Allied Workers Union says that four groups have expressed interest, but gives few details.
Sale of the plant “still is a possibility,” Local 134 President Lou Brudnock said in the communication. His union represents all but 11 of the union workers who were employed at the company. The remainder are represented by the United Steelworkers of America.
Brudnock also cautioned his members not to count on the plant reopening and advised them to continue to look for new jobs.
“Treat Glenshaw Glass as being closed and get on with your life,” he said.
Good confirmed that she had discussions with four buyers but declined to elaborate, other than to say that one of them was based in Atlanta. She said two other groups have surfaced just this week, but she declined to identify those parties, as well.
Officials believe it will take a significant capital investment, probably in the range of $15 million to $25 million, because money is needed to repair equipment damaged in the September floods and one of the plant’s four furnaces that was damaged in a later fire.
Right now, the plant has only one furnace that could be restarted without substantial repairs.
Officials said labor costs also would have to be reduced. Contacted yesterday, Brudnock said union officials are willing to work with potential buyers, provided they are willing to commit sufficient capital to invest in the plant.
rdaparma@tribweb.com
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