Libbey, USW agree to terms after layoff announcement

No severance pay and little relief were the results of negotiations on behalf of Shreveport Libbey Glass employees which ended Wednesday.

United Steelworkers representative David Broussard said he brokered the best deal he could for the 160 to 170 union employees set to be laid off as Libbey ends certain production lines at the local plant. Still, he came up short of what he hoped to achieve.

“They’ve done our employees a gross injustice by not giving them severance pay. It’s not uncommon to give severance pay in these situations,” Broussard said. “We put as much pressure on them as we could.”

Libbey and the USW agreed to 500 hours of pay for plant employees already eligible to retire — those over the age of 60 with 30 or more years of service to the company — who were willing to do so now.

More at http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20130227/NEWS05/130227045/Libbey-USW-agree-terms-after-layoff-announcement?nclick_check=1 .