A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order stopping the closure of the Pyrex glass plant in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.
The plant’s owner, Anchor Hocking, announced in September that it would shutter the facility and move operations to Lancaster, Ohio.
The court ruling stops the company and its private equity partner, Centre Lane Partners, from removing equipment and other materials from the glass plant before the next scheduled hearing on Nov. 12.
According to the restraining order issued on Oct. 31, the court found the plant’s closure would result in “immediate and irreparable injury” to the town of Charleroi and its workers.
The glass plant has been a major employer in the Washington County town for more than 100 years, and the closure would result in the loss or relocation of 300 jobs.
“The closure of this longtime manufacturing hub will have permanent impact on the Charleroi community and surrounding neighborhoods, which depend on the plant for employment,” said Attorney General Michelle Henry, whose office filed the motion for the restraining order.
Charleroi was thrust into the national spotlight in September, when former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denounced the hundreds of Haitian migrants who had recently settled there. The controversy peaked as the town reeled from Anchor Hocking’s announcement it would close the glass plant.
