Charleroi Borough Councilman Larry Celaschi (R) holds up a glass blowing pipe that he said his grandfather used at the glass plant in Charleroi for 50 years. Workers at the plant rallied to try to prevent the plant from closing, Sept. 20, 2024 (Capital-Star photo)
There’s not enough evidence of harm to competitors or consumers under federal antitrust laws to block a private equity firm’s plan to shut down and move a southwest Pennsylvania glassware plant, a U.S. District Court judge ruled last week.
The decision Thursday is a defeat for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, which sought a court order to stop the move. The office argued that New York-based Centre Lane Partners was engaging in anticompetitive practices by merging the factory in Charleroi, Washington County, with a direct competitor in Ohio.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Michelle Henry said the office is not finished with the case.
“Although the court’s preliminary ruling is disappointing, the decision makes clear that the case is not over, and we are determining our next steps,” Press Secretary Brett Hambright said.
The future of the Corelle Brands plant, which produces Pyrex cookware, became emblematic of the nation’s concerns over the impact of foreign trade policy and corporate profit taking during the race for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat this year.
Republican Dave McCormick joined workers and local leaders in September at a rally in Charleroi as part of a last-ditch effort to save the plant’s 300 jobs. There, he criticized Casey for not doing enough to prevent unfair competition from China.
Charleroi workers rally to try to save glass manufacturing plant
McCormick faced backlash from union leaders for exploiting Charleroi’s crisis.They claimed as a former hedge fund manager, McCormick’s own companies had inflicted similar harm on working people and communities. Union officials also said Casey had reached out to help, working behind the scenes to protect workers.
Casey released a report in September that alleged “questionable financial engineering and shady business deals” by Centre Lane had led to the closure plans.
“Charleroi has a generational legacy of glass manufacturing, and the plant’s closure would be a slap in the face to the workers, their community, and the people of Pennsylvania,” Casey said in a statement after U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan temporarily halted work to disassemble machinery at the plant.
“It’s clear that enforcement agencies must continue to investigate the shady business dealings and private equity machinations that have culminated in this attempted closure. This is a temporary measure, but it is an important first step and I’m thankful to the Attorney General’s office for taking this action. I will continue working every day to protect union jobs and hold Wall Street executives accountable for the havoc they are wreaking in our Commonwealth,” Casey said in the statement.
Centre Lane bought the glassware producer out of bankruptcy earlier this year and transferred ownership of Corelle Brands to competitor Anchor Hocking, which the private equity firm also owned. In September, Anchor Hocking announced plans to move production to its plant in Lancaster, Ohio, and close the Charleroi facility, laying off 173 workers in December and the remainder by February.
The attorney general’s office filed a motion for an injunction to stop the closure on Oct. 31 and also requested a restraining order to halt the company’s work to dismantle the plant. Ranjan granted the restraining order, which expired Thursday.
Following a hearing on the injunction this month, Ranjan concluded that the commonwealth had not met its burden to show that there were likely violations of the federal Clayton Act, which prohibits mergers and acquisitions that could reduce competition through a decrease in output, an increase in prices, or a decrease in quality.
“The reality is that the claims before the Court are not labor claims, they are antitrust ones,” Ranjan wrote. “And while the Court is sympathetic to employees whose jobs might be at risk and a long-time local facility that may cease production, in the specific context of this case, the Court must narrowly consider the requirements of federal antitrust law and determine whether they have been met. They have not.”
Ranjan added that without discover or further exploration of the legal issues in the case, his order should not be taken as a final ruling and he ordered the commonwealth, Centre Lane, Anchor Hocking and other brands to engage in settlement negotiations through mediation for job relocation, continued operation of the Charleroi plant and arrangements to ensure the viability of the plant as a separate asset.