Alcan's Alma smelter union in Quebec mulls strike

MONTREAL, Dec 7 (Reuters) - About 800 workers at Alcan Inc.'s 400,000 tonne Alma aluminum smelter in Quebec could go on strike early in the New Year if stalled contract talks do not advance, union officials said on Thursday.

Officials with the union, which is affiliated with the United Steelworkers, said 89 percent of members rejected the company's latest contract offer over concerns about higher wages and job protection.

The members also gave the union's bargaining committee a strike mandate, which means the workers could legally go on strike in early January. The current contract ends Dec. 31.

"We still have time to negotiate," Stephane Desgagne, president of the union local told Reuters. "We want to negotiate in good faith."

Officials at Alcan, the world's second-largest maker of primary aluminum, said they were aware of the union's position and would comment on the situation later on Thursday.

Desgagne said the union wants to negotiate a new contract rather than have one imposed on it and was prepared to return to bargaining if Alcan makes a "reasonable" offer.

Alcan and the union have been negotiating with the help of a labor conciliator.