Deal approved to keep open Ohio Hugo Boss plant

[April 24, 2010]  BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) -- Union workers on Friday approved an eleventh-hour agreement to keep open a Hugo Boss men's suit plant in Ohio where the more than 300 workers drew the support of actor Danny Glover.

In a joint statement, Hugo Boss and Workers United said the agreement was designed to help the company's competitiveness by increasing its flexibility and reducing costs. The statement said the planned April 27 closing of the factory in suburban Cleveland would be canceled if union members ratified the pact, which they did shortly afterward.

"Against all odds, we have saved a critical U.S. apparel manufacturing facility," Workers United President Bruce Raynor said. "This is a tremendous result that we attribute to our Hugo Boss members who stood up for their jobs."

Actor and activist Glover, star of the "Lethal Weapon" movies, asked Hollywood not to wear Hugo Boss suits to this year's Oscars and gathered twice with the workers to show he was behind them.

Glover said the outcome is not one workers are accustomed to and called it an important victory.

"It's huge, not simply for those workers ... but also for all workers feeling that they can stand up in the midst of what is happening," Glover said from his office in San Francisco.

He credited the workers, unions, community and government officials with pulling together to keep the plant open.

"I'm happy that I can say that I can wear Hugo Boss and say at the same time that I'm proud of the steps Hugo Boss took on behalf of these workers," Glover said.

Workers United said the agreement should give employees full-time work and includes a "piece work" system that should allow them to earn $10 or more per hour. It also maintains defined benefit pensions, health care benefits, paid holidays and summer and winter vacation periods.

Most of the plant's 375 workers, including 300 union members, were earning about $13 an hour, and the company told workers it wanted to lower wages to $8.30 hourly, the union has said.

"This is a victory for the working guy, which we don't have often enough these days," said Gov. Ted Strickland. "Danny Glover did a very effective job in drawing attention to the plight of these workers."

The Strickland administration and leaders of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System applied some pressure in the effort, urging executives at Permira Holdings Ltd. - the investment company that owns Hugo Boss - to bargain in good faith or risk the Ohio investment business it does with the pension fund.

Hugo Boss AG, based in Metzingen, Germany, had said the plant was not globally competitive when it announced the closing plans in late December. In subsequent talks, union leaders had said they sought to avoid big pay cuts and the company said concessions were rejected by the union.

[Associated Press]

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