Viva la Fiesta Dinnerware—An American Icon Still Union-Made in the USA

Joe Wells Jr., former CEO of Homer Laughlin China, died Monday at the age of 90. He left behind quite a legacy, which AFL-CIO speechwriter Paul Gordon dug into recently while researching the origins of union-made Fiesta dinnerware that has brightened the kitchens of America for decades. Here’s what Paul found about the company Wells helped run before his son Joe III took over:

Homer Laughlin China, a 134-year-old factory that straddles the West Virginia-Ohio border, is evidence that a company achieves superiority not only by the quality products it produces, but by respecting the employees who make them.

If you grew up with the Mickey Mouse Club on TV and a Schwinn bike in your garage, there’s a good chance your kitchen cabinet also included Homer Laughlin China’s most famous product: Fiesta Dinnerware. Even if Fiesta Dinnerware doesn’t sound familiar, it’s likely you recognize its Art Deco style and the bright colors—tangerine, peacock, persimmon, plum and more. And Fiesta isn’t just your average china. Do a Google search and you’ll find it has more devoted followers than many presidential candidates. What’s more, behind every Fiesta pitcher and plate and cup is a proud group of union workers and a company that has bucked job-exporting trends.

Fiesta was born in 1935, when Art Deco was in the air from Paris to the courthouse in Clarksburg, W.V. Frederick Hurten Rhead—a world-famous British-born ceramist and Homer Laughlin China’s chief designer—created the Fiesta Dinnerware line. Not only was it cool and stylish; it was also incredibly durable. 

Joel Wilson, the editor of the “Collector’s Quarterly” for Fiesta fans, says, “You can drop a plate and it doesn’t break. Throughout its history, the company always has had really superior chemists who match glazes and the clay. They’ve taken the technology up several notches.”

There are larger reasons for Homer Laughlin China’s success. The company mass-produced wares that were inexpensive enough for just about every family to afford but offered high artistic value. With Joe Jr. at the helm in the late 1950s, it moved into serving the institutional market as retail sales sagged under the weight of imports. But Wells also led the company’s retail sales revival thanks, to the reintroduction of the Fiesta line in the late 1980s. All told, Laughlin has manufactured nearly one-third of all the dinnerware that’s ever been sold in the United States.

One of the most striking features of the Laughlin business philosophy is treating its employees with respect. It goes back at least to1880, when Homer Laughlin chartered a train to Pittsburgh and took 300 employees and their families to see an exposition in the afternoon and an opera in the evening.

Since 1939, Laughlin employees have had their own union. Some 650 of them now are proud members of Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastic and Allied Workers (GMP) Local 419. 

Linda Dickey, a finisher who serves as president of the union local, says the union has contributed greatly to the company’s success. “They have a good workforce. The company has always said that.  In fact, when you walk in our doors, there’s a big sign, ‘Through these portals go the best potters in the world.’”

While many other companies were moving production overseas, her employer invested in its facilities and workers in Newell, W.V. “Back in the early ’80s,” she says, “the board of directors decided to modernize the plant. I’ve seen the modernization from day one. If you saw the plant back in ‘74, you wouldn’t recognize the place. We have pressure casting, where we make big oval dishes. When you see it, you feel like you’re in a carnival ride with these huge machine arms going up and down….We have plant tours there every day,” she says. “People are just amazed when they come through.”

Dickey adds, “I believe we had very smart owners of the plant. They had the foresight to do the right things there.”

Dickey, who has worked at Homer Laughlin for 32 years, recalls that “from the day they built this system—it’s a huge system—they bid the jobs to the Local 419 members. They were there from the building of this, so they know how the operation works.”

Newsletter editor Joel Wilson points out this was all part of a larger business strategy. “Laughlin was at a low point in the 1980s when they reintroduced Fiesta. It took off, and they used that cash flow to reinvest and update their equipment and develop a lot of new technologies. To be competitive with low-wage economies in this industry, you have to do that.” It all worked out.

Certainly management and union have had their differences over the years. “There have been three strikes since I’ve been working there,” Linda Dickey says, “but that’s a pretty good track record. Our last strike was over—you can guess what—health care in 2003. Management wanted to gut our health care. We were out for 55 long days. We did improve on their last offer, but we did take some concessions. Still, they weren’t as drastic as it would have been if we’d accepted their final offer before the strike.”

Retiree Janet Keller, who worked at Laughlin for 20 years, says she had two open-heart surgeries but didn’t miss one pay day. 

“We were allowed to accumulate sick days and that was enough for my first surgery. For my second surgery I lacked eight days for enough recuperation time. The company just gave me the eight days.” 

Local 419’s Dickey emphasizes that overall she has a good relationship with Laughlin management. “Just today, I was in two grievance meetings and we took care of 17 grievances without problems. That’s how things usually go.”

Dickey is very clear about the advantages of a union. “Number one, we have a contract,” she points out. “You’re not an at-will employee. You have a voice. You have the rights that are in that contract like seniority, pensions, holiday pay. If you work Sunday, you get time-and-a-half. Pottery work is hard, but a lot of people want to work here because you have health care.

“All this is guaranteed and it can’t be taken away from you.”

Yet another part of the Homer Laughlin China success story is that it is owned now by the Wells family, which is strongly committed to the community. In 1897, Homer Laughlin decided to spend his last years in Los Angeles and sold his interest in the business to William Edwin Wells and Louis Aaron. Later generations of their two families have managed the company ever since then.

Janet Keller says, “They’re concerned about the people, about the area, about the welfare. The Wells family has been very generous in giving to every organization.

“Every day, Joe Wells [III] walks through the plant and he can probably call half his workers by name. The union people know management on a first-name basis. They’re able to sit down one-to-one and talk things out and get things settled.”

Joel Wilson of “Collector’s Quarterly” observes, “HLC provides a real economic foothold for the area’s residents and general business in the town.  I am so glad they have been able to survive. The unions work with the company there. It’s really a partnership. There’s a lot of mutual benefit to both parties in keeping going.”

He compares Homer Laughlin China with its now-defunct competitor TS&T. “That huge hulking pottery of TS&T has windows that are busted out and there are pigeons flying in and out of it. When you see that, you see how much has left the area. And up in New York, Oneida closed their Buffalo china operation and moved production to Asia. But Homer Laughlin China has stayed.”Janet Keller certainly agrees. “We’re in an area where we’ve seen over 2,000 people at Weirton Steel lose their jobs because of foreign imports and outsourcing. Our company is constantly aware of this. They’re doing everything they can to keep this company productive and keep the people employed, and that goes for plant workers and salaried employees.”And just about every step of the way, GMP Local 419 is a strong partner.Fiesta’s iconic disc pitcher is available at The Union Shop Online. For more on Homer Laughlin China, check out The Homer Laughlin China Company History, by Jack Welch, which provided the historical background presented here.

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