United Steelworkers (USW) District 1 Director Donnie Blatt joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to recap a hard-fought contract victory at Libbey Glass in Toledo after a strike that lasted more than five months. Blatt explained that workers had previously accepted a 5 percent pay cut to help the company exit bankruptcy in 2021, with a clawback provision to restore losses once production targets were met.
In 2024, the company sought sweeping changes during bargaining: weakening seniority, limiting the Local’s ability to represent members, increasing healthcare costs and collapsing multiple agreements into one while stripping craft jurisdictions.
USW Locals 65T, 59M and 700T held firm, maintained solidarity and ultimately ratified new agreements that delivered substantial wage gains, protected healthcare and preserved each Local’s jurisdiction and representational strength.
A contract ratification can look like a single headline, but the work behind it is usually measured in weeks of uncertainty, months of sacrifice and years of memory. For Libbey Glass workers in Toledo, the end of a contentious dispute came only after a strike that lasted more than five months and demanded uncommon unity across multiple bargaining units.
United Steelworkers (USW) District 1 Director Donnie Blatt joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast to describe what it took to reach the new agreement and why the fight mattered beyond one plant. District 1 spans Ohio and Michigan, and the Libbey dispute became a high-visibility test of whether workers who had already given concessions to save a company could hold the line when that same company returned to the table seeking more.
The dispute was not simply about wages, Blatt said; it was about whether the union would retain the tools needed to represent members and whether long-standing craft jurisdictions would be protected rather than erased.
The path to the strike began years earlier. Libbey Glass workers took a 5 percent pay cut to help the company emerge from bankruptcy in 2021, even though a collective bargaining agreement had already been negotiated in 2017, Blatt said.
Those concessions were not framed as permanent. A clawback provision was negotiated so workers could regain what they had given up once the company reached a defined production level. According to Blatt, Libbey achieved that production level on time, triggering the restoration provision.
But the period of loss mattered. It shaped workers’ expectations going into the next round. They had already proven their commitment to keeping the company afloat. In return, they expected a fair agreement that respected seniority, healthcare and the union’s ability to function.
When bargaining for a new agreement began in 2024, Blatt said the company entered negotiations seeking to rewrite the contract “from front to back.” The union’s concerns centered on several proposed changes:
The jurisdiction issue was a flashpoint. USW represents three Locals at the facility, each with distinct roles:
Blatt said the company attempted to merge these agreements into a single collective bargaining agreement and remove the jurisdictions tied to each Local. Members rejected that approach. In their view, the Locals’ separate agreements were the structure that protected craft identity, job duties and fair representation.
The strike that followed was sustained by discipline and unity. Blatt credited the workers for maintaining solidarity across the three Locals and for staffing picket lines around the clock.
That unity was the union’s leverage. A long strike is designed to test whether workers will fracture under financial pressure and fatigue. Blatt said the Locals did the opposite. They stayed aligned on core demands and made clear what it would take to restart production.
He also pointed to the employer’s labor counsel as a factor that shaped the tone of negotiations. The representation was consistent with hardline, anti-union tactics, Blatt said. In the union’s assessment, the proposals and posture suggested an effort to weaken the union’s presence at the facility. The outcome, however, showed that the company could not achieve those aims without a prolonged shutdown.
The three ratified agreements are not identical. Blatt said each Local secured its own individual contract, with differences reflecting each unit’s priorities and tradeoffs.
Across the three agreements, Blatt highlighted several outcomes:
Blatt credited Staff Representative Teresa Cassidy for leading negotiations and bringing back agreements that members could ratify.
He also noted that all three contracts will expire at the same time, aligning future bargaining timelines and preventing staggered expirations from becoming a vulnerability.
A strike at a major employer does not stay contained within the plant gates. Blatt described how USW’s Strategic Campaigns Department supported the Locals with community outreach, rally organization and sustained visibility.
The strategy was to ensure the public understood why workers were out and what was at stake. That included engaging community allies and clergy, and coordinating activities to keep the dispute in the spotlight.
For labor relations practitioners, the lesson is familiar but worth repeating: long strikes require more than picket schedules. They require narrative discipline, community relationships and a structure that keeps members connected to the purpose of the fight.
The conversation also looked ahead. Blatt discussed upcoming leadership changes within the United Steelworkers, noting the transition set for March 1.
He emphasized confidence in the union’s direction and described the incoming leadership as experienced and deeply rooted in the union’s work. The message was one of continuity: the same focus on fair treatment, strong contracts and member power will remain central.
The Libbey Glass dispute is a reminder that contract fights are often about governance as much as economics. Wage gains matter, but so do the rules that determine who has a voice, how seniority is honored and whether a union can enforce the agreement it negotiates.
For the three USW Locals in Toledo, the ratification marked the end of a five-month strike and the beginning of a new contract cycle with key protections intact. For employers watching, it delivered a different message: workers who have already sacrificed to save a company will not accept a second round of concessions disguised as “modernization.”
And for unions across the region, the takeaway is clear. Solidarity across Locals, disciplined strike structure and strategic community engagement can still produce results, even in the most contentious disputes.
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