Alcoa Board Hears from Locked-Out Workers Following $41-M Loss
Corporate directors and shareholders need the facts: the lockout at Alcoa's ABI smelter is a bad business decision, Steelworkers say.
BÉCANCOUR, QC, Oct. 23, 2018 /CNW/ - Aluminum giant Alcoa's board of directors is being flooded with messages from locked-out workers and supporters concerned about the nine-month labour dispute at the ABI smelter in Bécancour.
An email campaign by the United Steelworkers (USW) that targeted Alcoa's shareholders over the last week shifted today to its board of directors, on the heels of the company's third-quarter results which showed a $41-million loss.
"This kind of loss would never have occurred if the Bécancour aluminum smelter had been operating at full capacity," said Clément Masse, President of USW Local 9700, representing the 1,030 ABI employees who have been locked out of their jobs since Jan. 11.
"This lockout is a bad business decision and the company's senior management is saddled with the consequences of having allowed it to continue this long. It's time for board members and shareholders to take action," Masse said.
The message sent to Alcoa's directors states:
Hello,
I am writing to voice my support for the 1,030 ABI workers who have been locked out since January 11 of this year. The lockout has now passed the nine-month mark.
Given that a negotiated settlement was within reach, this lockout is irrational. There were only two outstanding issues: the funding of a new pension plan to satisfy shareholder concerns and protection of workers' seniority rights in personnel transfers. The union had already agreed to a new pension plan in which workers would assume the risks. All that was left to finalize were certain financing issues. Since the lockout began, the company has reneged on issues it had previously agreed to during the negotiations, signalling an unwillingness to reach a settlement anytime soon.
The Bécancour smelter already has some of the lowest labour costs among Alcoa's North American facilities.
The lockout has cost Alcoa tens of millions of dollars in profits. Some say the company is taking this hit in the hope of obtaining lucrative concessions. But there is no scenario in which ABI can make up for the lockout's losses.
Alcoa's management seems set on breaking the union. It's not working. On the contrary, our solidarity has never been stronger. And Quebecers are starting to lose patience with a multinational that benefits from electricity rebates, pays less to the Quebec government than what its contract stipulates, and holds its employees – and an entire region's economy – hostage.
As a member of the board of directors, you have a say in these matters. The longer this lockout lasts, the harder it will be for the workers to return, the greater the risks to long-term labour relations.
When you consider the issues fully, it's clear the risks outweigh the benefits.
You can make a difference, by holding Alcoa management accountable. Tell Alcoa to resume meaningful, good-faith negotiations.
Thank you for your attention.
A supporter of Steelworkers Local 9700 members
The 1,030 unionized ABI employees were locked out on January 11 of this year by Alcoa and Rio Tinto. There were two outstanding issues: pension funding and workers' seniority rights in personnel transfers. The lockout has cost Hydro-Québec nearly $175 million in wasted and unpaid electricity because Alcoa invoked a "force majeure" clause to avoid its obligations to the publicly owned utility.
Affiliated with the FTQ, the Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing 60,000 workers in all sectors of the economy.
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
Clairandrée Cauchy, Syndicat des Métallos/USW Communications, 514-774-4001, [email protected]
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