Employees of Pittsburgh Glass Works accepted wage cuts Wednesday night.
The cuts were included in a contract ratified by Local 3059 of the United Auto Workers, which represents about 305 workers at the company's Evansville plant.
Terry Hall, president of the local union chapter, declined to say how many members voted in favor of the contract.
"We know the times we are in," Hall said. "We know this is something that many other people have taken."
A representative of Pittsburgh Glass Works declined to comment.
Along with the wage cuts, the workers agreed to receive less pay when on disability leave. Also, newly hired workers will be paid at a lower wage scale. The contract will last for four years.
Pittsburgh Glass Works, formerly PPG, makes windshields and door windows at its Evansville factory on U.S. 41 North. Like many automobile industry suppliers, it has suffered from the uncertainty over the U.S. car companies and a falling demand for its products.
In the first quarter of the year, the plant has been running at 15 percent of its capacity on average, Hall said.
Along with temporary layoffs, Pittsburgh Glass Works has shut down plants elsewhere.
Last year, the company said it was closing its operation in Oshawa, Ontario, and two satellite plants in Canada and New Jersey. Not long afterward, the company announced plans to shut down another plant in Evart, Mich., and said at least one more closing was likely.
Hall said he feels fairly confident that the Evansville plant won't be next on the list. Company officials have told him that the concentration of manufacturing processes found there is rare within the company. If anything, the Evansville operation may gain work from another plant's closing, Hall said.
Union first
The agreement ratified Wednesday is the first union contract the Evansville employees have operated under, even though they agreed to join the United Workers in June 2006. Their negotiations have been disrupted by several events.
First, PPG contested the results of the election, citing irregularities. The National Labor Relations Board agreed and arranged a second vote. In August 2007, 53 percent of production workers voted to join the union.
Shortly afterward, the Evansville plant was put up for sale along with other PPG assets. In October, they were sold to a new company, formed by funds managed by Kohlberg & Company LLC, based in Mount Kisco, N.Y. PPG kept a minority interest. The Evansville plant became Pittsburgh Glass Works at that time.
Two months later, at least 30 percent of the union members at the Evansville plant asked to be decertified from the United Auto Workers. The question was put to a vote and the union won again.