Owens-Illinois deals blow to area

Rumors have circulated about the potential closure of the Owens-Illinois Inc. plant ever since it stopped producing soda and beer bottles back in the 1970s. But that didn´t make Wednesday´s announcement the glass container plant is closing any less alarming for its employees, Dan Barrette said.

"It was a shock to finally have it happen. People are upset and don´t know what they´re going to do right now," said Barrette, who works in the container forming department and is treasurer for the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union Local 202. Perrysburg, Ohio-based Owens-Illinois said the plant, which employs 137, will cease production May 1. Workers are paid anywhere from $18 per hour for general laborers to $24 or $26 per hour for skilled trades workers, Barrette said. "It´s a really good job there," he said. "For the pay you make there, it´s going to be hard to replace."

The plant produced glass containers for the food industry but declining demand has hurt business, Owens-Illinois spokeswoman Stephanie Johnston said. The plant at 500 Packard Highway has been in operation since 1963 and is the company´s oldest. It´s also one of the most expensive plants to run, officials said. "Modern glass plants are more efficient and much more streamlined," Johnston said.

The Charlotte facility ran three furnaces and 12 production lines until the late 1970s and early ´80s. Now, it operates only one furnace with four production lines, Johnston said. Owens-Illinois updated the facility a few times, including a $40 million rehabilitation in 1999. The company will redistribute the machinery to other plants and will sell the buildings. The plant´s several buildings span 662,870 square feet, according to the city assessor´s office. Its 2009 property taxes were $425,000, Charlotte City Manager Gregg Guetschow said.

The city collected $119,000 of that, he said. "Given economic circumstances that we´ve been experiencing in the state of Michigan and the impact it´s had on the city´s budget, generally we don´t need to lose another $119,000 out of our budget," he said. The city´s general fund budget is about $6 million. The true impact on taxes is unknown, although about $31,000 of the $119,000 was related to personal property on the site. Once the equipment is removed, the loss of that tax revenue is "manageable," Guetschow said.