Kaiser To Shut Down Mead Plant, Leave 400 Jobless

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation says it is shutting down its Spokane smelter because it can make more money selling power than making aluminum.

The Mead smelter will be closed until at least next October, idling at least 400 hourly workers. Two months after the workers returned from a two-year labor dispute, the company says it will pay the laid off employees 70 percent of their wages. The company can make about 50 (m) million dollars a month by selling power back to the Bonneville Power Administration. The union estimates it costs the company 15 (m) million dollars a month to pay wages of the laid-off workers.