Kaiser Aluminum reduces 55 pct of NW smelter jobs
NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NYSE:KLU) said Tuesday it will lay off more than half of its 212 workers at the Mead and Tacoma, Washington, smelters in December amid uncertainty about when it can restart idled primary aluminum output in the U.S. Northwest.
It was the second round of job cuts at its Washington state facilities in two weeks prompted by low metal prices and soft demand.
Sixty-five of Kaiser's 149 salaried employees and 53 of 63 hourly workers at Mead and Tacoma were issued job-reduction notices in the last few days, a company spokesman said.
``Especially in light of the metal price, we simply do not know how long these facilities may be down, so given that uncertainty we're taking actions to reduce our employment level,'' spokesman Scott Lamb told Reuters.
The layoffs are effective on Dec. 12 for the white-collar workers and on Dec. 10 for hourly employees, Lamb said.
``This will leave a core group of workers at Mead and Tacoma to enable Kaiser to begin the restart process at the appropriate time.''
The company has said that hourly workers receive 70 percent of their average weekly base wage during the curtailments. In the event of a restart, they will be recalled to work on the basis of seniority.
On Sept. 25, Kaiser also reduced the number of salaried staff at its nearby Trentwood rolling mill from 250 to 185, due to weak demand for some aluminum products.
A small Kaiser extrusion plant in Richland, Washington, is running normally, Lamb said.