Production ends at glass plant that was site of strike

The consumer glassware manufacturer, a division of Ohio-based Lancaster Colony Corp., this month announced it would end production at the plant, which opened in 1907."The fat lady has sung," Beecher McCowan, a 30-year employee of the plant, said Tuesday as he left the factory. "People have accepted the fact that the plant is closing. What else is left? You move on."

About 50 to 60 people will continue working in the shipping, mold cleaning and mold making departments at the factory about 20 miles north of Muncie, said Sonny Poor, president of International Flint Glass Workers Local 501.

The union agreed in January to a three-year contract after the strike that included a brawl between strikers and security guards that resulted in several arrests.

At its peak, Indiana Glass employed more than 500. But for the past several months, the plant has been operating well below full capacity.

Many of the now-unemployed Indiana Glass employees said they remained optimistic.

"This has been our family for a long time," 22-year employee Natalie Turner of Muncie said while holding a box of souvenirs. "But it's not going to get us down. There'll be new openings. It will be all right."