SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - An Ohio company that bills itself as one of the world’s largest glass tableware manufacturers says it wants to shut down its Louisiana plant by the end of the year.
Libbey Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, will negotiate with unions representing the 450 workers at the plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, before making a final decision, the company said in a news release Wednesday.
Demand has been declining for the last few years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse, CEO Mike Bauer said.
“Although difficult, we believe this is a necessary step in transforming Libbey for success in the post-COVID-19 era,” he said. The company has one other U.S. plant, in Toledo, and also has factories in Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal and China.
Libbey and its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on June 1. The bankruptcy court action doesn’t include international subsidiaries in Canada, China, Mexico, the Netherlands and Portugal.
As of Dec. 31, the company had 5,872 employees, about 70% of them outside the U.S., according to a year-end report to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Libbey’s distribution center in Greenwood, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southwest of Shreveport and 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) east of the Texas state line, is not affected by the tentative plan to shut down the Shreveport plant, and will remain open, Wednesday’s statement said.
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