The rupture at Asterion Glass’s plant outside Most sent a white plume above its boiler hall shortly before 06:00 on Wednesday, as pickets gathered at the gates. The factory’s two production lines stopped after the steam system tripped automatically, halting work on glass bottles and industrial containers bound for customers across Europe.
The regional fire service said 34 workers had been inside the complex and all were accounted for. No one was injured. Inspectors were examining a failed joint on a steam pipe; they said it was too early to determine why it broke or whether the strike had any bearing on the equipment failure.
Pipe rupture stops both lines
The strike began at 03:10, when 640 of the plant’s 910 employees walked off the job over pay and proposed changes to shift schedules. The company said its emergency crew had carried out a controlled stop, but the pipe rupture later cut steam to the annealing equipment, which cools newly formed glass at a managed rate.
Asterion said the outage could delay 11,000 tonnes of goods and put contracts worth up to 620 million koruna at risk if both lines were not back by Friday. Its estimate includes missed deliveries and restarting the furnaces, which operate at about 1,500°C (2,730°F). The company has not said how much damage the pipe itself sustained.
We can stop the line safely, but we cannot bargain while our wages keep losing ground to prices.
Joko Usamah, elected worker representative
Pay dispute widens the shutdown
The workers are seeking a 9% pay rise and a guarantee that weekend shifts will not be extended without consultation. Asterion has offered 4.5%, saying energy and transport costs have risen even as demand for packaging glass weakened in the first half of the year.
Usamah was elected last month as the first shop-floor representative on the company’s seven-member supervisory board. He said workers had voted to strike after three rounds of talks failed, and that the walkout would continue until management returned with a revised offer. Pickets stood in drizzle beside the plant’s access road on Wednesday morning.
Company spokesperson Wilhelm Aune said the factory had followed its shutdown plan and would not speculate about the pipe’s failure before the inspection was complete. “Our priority is to restore production without putting people or equipment at risk,” he said. The plant supplies several regional food and beverage packagers, which may have to draw down stocks or seek other suppliers.
Regional labour inspectors said they would review maintenance records and interview staff before issuing findings, expected no earlier than next week. The plant’s furnaces can be restarted only after the cooling and steam systems are checked, Asterion said, leaving Friday’s restart target dependent on both the inspection and a settlement with workers.
