Running Out of Glass

Babies and bourbon drinkers were faced with the same problem last week. The supply of containers from which they get their nourishment was being rapidly diminished because of a strike by the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s Glass Bottle Blowers Association. The walkout by 44,000 employees had shut down 102 plants across the country that supply 90% of the nation's glass containers.

The strike, which has put such companies as Owens-Illinois, Brockway Glass and Anchor Hocking temporarily out of the glass business, started seven weeks ago and came after union and industry negotiators had agreed on a new three-year contract that would have provided a package of 710 an hour spread among wages, insurance, pensions and other benefits. Thus the strike was as much against Glass Blowers President Lee W. Minton, 56, as it was against the companies. Calling the proposed settlement "the best offer we've ever had in this industry," Minton urged his union to accept it. But by a decisive 63-to-30 vote, local presidents rejected the offer and rebuffed their leader. "I don't know why they turned it down," said Minton. "The reasons vary from local to local."

With no more bottles flowing out of the industry's automated furnaces, bottle users are either cutting back their own production or looking for other kinds of containers. Brewers, who use nearly 20% of the annual output of 30 billion containers, have stepped up the use of cans and are nursing a meager hoard of returnable bottles. "We've been rationing throwaways for weeks," said Pittsburgh Brewing Co. President Louis J. Slais, "and if this thing lasts a few more days, there won't be any more throwaways to throw away."

Some companies are planning changes to unusual kinds of containers. General Foods, for one, says that it is considering turning out Log Cabin syrup in milk cartons or returning to metal cans if bottles run out. Milk companies are increasing the use of cardboard cartons, which not all customers like. In some cases, switches are impractical. Whisky makers cannot use plastic, for instance, because the containers affect the taste of the liquor. And since blood and blood plasma, as well as many kinds of drugs, have to be shipped in glass, hospitals are threatened with a serious shortage of necessary supplies. Minton, who is now belatedly backing his striking union members, predicted that a strike settlement was going to take a long time. Said he: "Now maybe people will realize how important the glass industry is."

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