Workers at the Glass Group Inc. plant in Missouri have agreed to a wage reduction in order to keep the plant open. In Nov/04, The Glass Group, a privately held company based in Millville, NJ, wrote to employees to ask them to accept concessions so order that the plant could continue in operation. The plant has about 535 employees, all but 100 of whom are members of United Steel Workers of America Local 8734. The firm declined to release final details of the deal. In November, the company said it hoped to cut about USD 1.50 an hour in wages or benefits, said Jim Hahn, a spokesman. The union was looking into how to divide the concessions, he said. The Glass Group and other US glass makers face pricing pressures, particularly on the cosmetic or decorative side, Hahn said, adding that these pressures have intensified in 2004 because of higher energy costs.
