Kaiser to take Q3 charge from labor settlement

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp., the operating subsidiary of Kaiser Aluminum Corp.(NYSE:KLU - news), said on Monday it expects to take a one-time, pre-tax charge of $30 to $40 million in the third quarter from its labour settlement with the steelworkers union.

Earlier Monday, the United Steelworkers of America said that a five-year labour contract had been ordered by an arbitrator, and will end a labour lockout in effect at Kaiser since Jan. 14, 1999.

The company said the charge reflects incremental, non-recurring impacts from the new agreement. The charge will be largely offset by a previously announced pre-tax net gain of about $40 million associated with the sale of electrical power, it added.

Kaiser said it expects to recall hourly employees to fill about 1,756 jobs within 35 days. According to Kaiser, the contract reduces the total number of hourly jobs at five plants by at least 540, or about 19 percent of the 2,800 jobs in place at September 1998, when union workers went on strike.

The company added that 148 jobs connected with Kaiser getting out of the beverage can body stock business in Trentwood, Wash., were permanently eliminated. Also, 356 jobs were affected by a previously announced curtailment at the Mead and Tacoma, Wash. smelters.

The new contract runs through Sept. 30, 2005, and calls for a 2.6 percent average annual increase in the overall wage and benefit package, Kaiser said.