PAGE 8 | December 20, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JOBS
Close to 100 layoffs at Owens-Brockway glass
A new factory in Mexico, and a
decline in local bottle orders,
are factors in idling a furnace.
Ohio-based Owens-Brockway
is laying off 93 union mem-
bers at its Northeast Portland
glass plant starting Dec. 30.
Six of them are members of
United Steelworkers (USW)
Local 330; the other 87 are in
Local 112M in the GMP
Council of United Steelwork-
ers. [GMP stands for Glass,
Molders, Pottery, Plastics and
Allied Workers, which merged
with USW in 2016.]
Located at 9710 N.E. Glass
Plant Road just west of I-205
and North of Killingsworth,
the Owens-Brockway plant is
very distinctive looking, with
a roof shaped like the head of
a wrench. That’s common with
glass plants, for ventilation.
The plant makes bottles for
beer and wine, but with orders
down, the company is indefi-
nitely idling one of its furnaces.
Because the company has
opened a new facility in Mex-
ico, trade is considered a fac-
tor in the layoff, and an appli-
cation for benefits under the
Trade Act program is pending.
The federally funded program
helps workers who have lost
their jobs as a result of foreign
competition, with extended
unemployment benefits, train-
ing funds, a wage subsidy for
older workers, and other ben-
efits.
Seated from left to right: 2nd Vice President Ed Barnes, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Bob Tackett, and President Jeff Anderson; standing from left to
right: Will Lukens, Tracey Powers, Darren Hamann, Mike Bridges, Scott Zadow, Jeff Cuellar, 1st Vice President Everice Moro, Willy Myers, Jaimie Ro-
driguez, Ellen Ino, Lucy Carrier, and Joe Esmond. Not pictured: Dave Tully, Rose Etta Venetucci, and Mike Pucik.
F ROM T HE O FFICERS AND E XECUTIVE B OARD OF THE
N ORTHWEST O REGON L ABOR C OUNCIL
Democrats–and
Herrera-Beutler–vote
to cut drug prices
House Democrats want to lower
drug prices. House Republicans
do not. That’s about the only
possible takeaway from a Dec.
12 vote on House Resolution 3,
entitled the Lower Drug Costs
Now Act, which passed 230-
192. To be fair, out of 193 Re-
publicans, two of them did join
all 228 House Democrats in vot-
ing for the bill, and one of those
was Southwest Washington Re-
publican Congresswoman Jamie
Herrera-Beutler.
The bill allows Medicare to
negotiate with drug companies
to get lower prices on insulin
and single-source brand-name
drugs that don’t have generic
versions (Incredibly, current law
prohibits Medicare from using
its bargaining power to get a
good deal on the pharmaceuti-
cals it pays for). The bill also
caps out-of-pocket drug ex-
penses for Medicare beneficiar-
ies at $2,000 a year and elimi-
nates beneficiary cost-sharing
above that. And it creates an in-
ternational pricing index and
prohibit companies from charg-
ing over 20% more for the same
drug in the United States than
abroad.
The bill now goes to the U.S.
Senate, which a Republican ma-
jority currently controls. When
he was running for president in
2016, Donald Trump said he
supported letting Medicare ne-
gotiate for lower drug prices.
But the White House in a Dec.
10 statement said the bill would
reduce drug companies’ incen-
tive to bring new drugs to mar-
ket, and pledged that Trump
would veto it if it passes the
Senate.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell has said he
will block it.
HOW YOUR REP VOTED
FOR: Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne
Bonamici, Peter DeFazio, Kurt
Schrader, Jamie Herrera-Beutler
AGAINST: Greg Walden