Alcoa trims production days

Already faced with looming layoffs, workers at Alcoa Davenport Works learned Tuesday that the plant will shut down production for four days over the next three weeks. The Riverdale aluminum maker will suspend production for the next three Sundays and on Memorial Day, Alcoa spokesman John Riches said. The reduced work schedule comes less than three weeks after Davenport Works announced it will lay off another 250 to 275 employees in June as a result of the weakened demand for its aluminum products. Riches said the action is being taken because the plant’s business volume has continued to decline and because the second round of layoffs has not yet happened. “We’re trying to balance the work we have with the right amount of people until those layoffs take effect in June,” he added. He could not say what shutting down for four days would mean in dollar savings, but said there would be savings both in terms of salaries and energy. Most of the plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The shutdowns — which will be on May 17, 24, 25 and 31 — will affect mostly hourly employees. Riches said discussions about a reduced schedule were finalized with the union Tuesday. But Skip McGill, president of United Steelworkers Local 105, which represents the majority of the plant’s work force, said the union had offered several other ideas for cutting costs. “The contract does say they can go down to a 32-hour work week. This doesn’t go against what the contract says, but normally we are able to negotiate and bargain ... and we didn’t get to here,” he said, adding the union might consider filing charges with the labor board. McGill said enough workers would have been willing to take voluntary layoff through the end of the month that the hour reduction could have been avoided. “We’re not happy about it because everybody’s taken a pay cut already,” he said. “We’ve got some operations that we shouldn’t shut down — furnaces and continuous processes.” Riches said “shut down” does not mean all the equipment actually is shut down. Instead, some would be idled. He added that the last time anyone in the plant remembers a reduction of hours happening was in 1974. The impending layoffs mark the second such action at Davenport Works this year. The previous round, announced in January, resulted in 125 hourly workers being laid off and 72 workers accepting voluntary quit packages. In addition, 41 salaried workers lost their jobs as part of a restructuring plan. McGill said negotiations are continuing between the union and management to determine how many and which employees will be affected by the layoffs announced April 23. So far, he said 24 people have offered to take voluntary quit packages and another two will go on layoff until their retirement date in September. “That keeps 26 people from being laid off,” he said, adding that another 244 either could face voluntary or regular layoffs. “We want to do as many voluntary layoffs as possible.” Weakened demand for aluminum by Alcoa’s key customers — including the aerospace, automobile and transportation industries — has led to a decline in business at Davenport Works as well as for the parent company, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Alcoa Inc. “Everybody understands the situation,” Riches said of the local work force. “They know we need to make the reductions.” But McGill said the reduced hours do not affect all the employees because of the plant’s alternative work schedules. “For a lot of people, (Sunday) is their regular day to work. But there are quite a few (the change) doesn’t touch.” source:www.qctimes.com