Click on the pictures below to learn more about some of the veteran Waterford Crystal workers, retirees and their family members who carried out a sit-in at the Waterford Crystal Visitor Center after the factory was shut down. The workers occupied the visitor center around the clock for almost two months in order to fight for their jobs and to keep manufacturing in Waterford. Photographs by Lauren Kesner.
Click on any photo to begin the slideshow.
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- Jimmy Bresnan, 57, worked as an artisan and master glass cutter for 41 years. Since losing his job, he has made several unsuccessful inquiries about work. Nonetheless, Bresnan tries to stay positive. He says he is luckier than most because he's already paid for his mortgage. He recalls another difficult time a few years ago when his wife was getting radiation treatment. The nurses would ask them what they did over the weekend. They told them they went out dancing. “The nurses thought we were crazy,” Bresnan says. “But you have to make the most of things. Life goes on.” Despite his general good cheer, Bresnan is still very bitter about how things turned out at Waterford Crystal.
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- James Butler, 55, worked at Waterford for 30 years. One of his brothers worked as a glass cutter in the factory for 43 years, and his other brother worked in the glass blowing room for 38 years. Butler feels let down because the government did not intervene to help keep manufacturing in Waterford.
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- (From left) Saoirse De Courcy, 9, and Shauna De Courcy, 8, visit their dad, Karl De Courcy. De Courcy, 42, worked in the clerical department of Waterford Crystal for 24 years. De Courcy is planning to go back to college at Waterford Institute of Technology, which is hosting an open house specifically for Waterford Crystal workers. De Courcy says he misses the camaraderie of the work place. “They were your family. There’s certain people that you’d miss. That’s the hardest thing for anyone I’ve spoken to.”
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- Six-year-old Evan Power breakdances at the Waterford Visitor Center while he visits his grandfather Tom Power, who is featured in "Raise the Last Glass." Evan passes by the empty factory on his way to and from school. His mother was also recently laid off from her job at a property management company.
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- (From left) Maura Stephens, 60, and Angela Flynn, 73, stand outside the Waterford Visitor Center on the final day of the sit-in. Stephens worked in the blowing room for 32 years. She echoes a sentiment common among Waterford Crystal workers: disappointment that the government did not step in to help keep manufacturing in Waterford. “To think of all that craft walking around the town,” she says, “people with that gift and not being able to use it. It’s still not...sinking in.” Flynn worked in the canteen at Waterford Crystal for 18 years. Her son, Ted Flynn, worked in the blowing room and left on a voluntary severance package in December 2008. As part of his package, he was due to receive $850 per week for 12 months, but he received no payments after the company went bankrupt a month later.
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- Henry Moloney, 72, was a glass blower for 36 years before his retirement in 1987. He was one of several retired employees who helped keep the sit-in going when the workers had to attend union meetings off-site. The group was known as Dad's Army. Moloney helped to organize 6,000 people from Waterford to protest the closure of the factory.
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- Peter Hearne, 76, worked at the factory for 25 years as a quality control supervisor. In 1987, he chose to retire early. Five of his children had also worked at the factory. Robert, Marian, and Theresa were stationed in the blowing room. His son Sean was a cutter, and his son Michael worked in the dipping room, where the glass was dipped in acid to make it crystal clear. Michael was the only one still working at the factory when it closed, and he was laid off.
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- (From left) Retired employees Chuck O’Connell, 66, and James Collins, 73, reminisce during the sit-in. O'Connell was a master craftsman and glass blower at Waterford Crystal for 30 years. He thinks the workers were wrong to end the sit-in when they did, and that they should have kept fighting until they got a better financial package or saved manufacturing jobs in Waterford. Collins worked at the factory for 18 years. He took a voluntary retirement package in 1987, which provided him with full pension and a severance package. Two of his sons worked as glass blowers, and his other son was a glass cutter. While two of them left before the factory closed, his son, Billy, was laid off and then rehired on a temporary basis to clear out the building. Collins has little hope that there will be a revival in Waterford Crystal. “It’s finished as a glass factory,” he says. “And it’s finished as a brand.”
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