Kaiser Corp. hands out pink slips 

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October 13, 2001

The Associated Press 

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. began handing out job reduction notices Friday to 65 of 149 salaried employees at its smelters in Tacoma and Spokane.

The layoff of management employees will be completed by Dec. 12, Kaiser spokesman Scott Lamb said from Houston. In addition, 53 of 65 hourly workers who were keeping the plants ready for a possible restart will be laid off beginning Dec. 10, he said.

Lamb said he did not know how many workers would lose their jobs at each plant, but said the majority would be at the Mead smelter near Spokane.

The cutbacks are necessary because of uncertainty about restarting the smelters in the face of depressed metal prices and high power costs, Lamb said.

The employees had been kept on even though the company's only two smelters in the United States had been idle.