Alcoa May Cut Quebec Output Without Wage Concessions

     April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, might cut output at a Quebec smelter by about a third if workers don’t agree to lower wages. Alcoa might shut one production line, or about 136,000 metric tons of annual output, at its 75 percent-owned Becancour smelter by April 30 without the wage concessions, company spokesman Kevin Lowery said today by telephone. Rio Tinto Ltd. owns the rest of the plant. About 20 percent of Alcoa’s production has been cut since aluminum prices began falling last year. Alcoa started negotiating with about 3,500 unionized workers in Canada last month to reduce payroll costs by 15 percent. “We told them that if we cannot reduce the costs, we’re going to have to reduce production,” Lowery said. “You’re going to see steps in the interim that will begin the preparations” to curb production. 

    The cutbacks would affect about 270 workers, he said. Alcoa already has decided to cut the jobs, violating its labor agreement and ignoring talks under way aimed at preventing job losses, Clement Masse, president of the United Steelworkers chapter that represents the workers, said in a statement today. 

    “Alcoa’s attitude is in sharp contrast with the union’s efforts to create a climate of cooperation, and with the plan we had mutually agreed on that would see hours reduced,” Masse said. “We are now calling on the government to ensure that the labor agreement negotiated with Alcoa remains in force.” Aluminum for delivery in three months has fallen 50 percent in the past year on the London Metal Exchange to $1,535 a metric ton. Alcoa rose 30 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $9.15 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 19 percent this year.