Now that the Hugo Boss plant just outside Cleveland is officially open, Dale Bethly, a production worker, is happy to get a paycheck again.
Bethly: "Being off two and a half months is good, but, it doesn't pay the bills. It really doesn't. But it's really good to be back. It really is. Got a paycheck coming in now...can get off unemployment. I can kick my supervisor when he gets on my nerves!"
Bethly was laid off when the German suit maker announced it would close the plant last December. Declining productivity and profits led the company's top brass to propose moving work at its sole US factory to low-wage plants overseas.
Hugo Boss workers, organized by Workers United, protested loudly for several months ultimately winning a three-year contract. Only 200 of the 375 workers were brought back to work many taking severance packages. Others took pay cuts.
Governor Ted Strickland hopes the agreement will show other companies the benefits of keeping work here.
Strickland: "I believe what's happened here could be a model for what we could do elsewhere across Ohio and across America. We need to begin in-sourcing jobs, rather than outsourcing jobs."
Hugo Boss released a statement celebrating the reopening and wrote: "We are hopeful that the significant changes brought about by the parties' new collective bargaining agreement will allow the facility to be more globally competitive."