Tuesday, April 23, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- Alcoa and United Steelworkers Local 450 and 420 have reached a deal to minimize involuntary lay-offs from the Massena East plant and abide by their power contract with the …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
By ANDY GARDNER
MASSENA -- Alcoa and United Steelworkers Local 450 and 420 have reached a deal to minimize involuntary lay-offs from the Massena East plant and abide by their power contract with the state.
Local 450 president David LaClair said 264 union members at the east plant have options that include early retirement with incentives, transfers outside of Massena or to voluntarily quit.
Early retirement packages will have penalties waived for being too young or having too little seniority, the Local 450 president stated.
“They’re not forced to take these options,” according to LaClair. “The west plant received [early retirement] options … so vacancies could be created.”
He said east plant laborers with less seniority who don’t like any of the above-mentioned choices can try to get into the west facility. Some will be able to join the team that will tear down the potlines over an 18-to-24-month period after it ceases operation.
LaClair said he thinks the union’s agreement with Alcoa is good, but not great.
“Overall I’m not going to say it’s the best … however, I believe it’s a decent proposal for our members to take into consideration and move forward,” he said.
“I’m not going to say people were excited,” he said of the union members’ response to the deal. “They’re taking it all into context, reviewing what their options are.”
Alcoa had committed to invest $600 million to modernize its Massena facilities and agreed to retain 900 jobs at both plants in exchange for 478 megawatts of cut-rate electricity from the St. Lawrence-Roosevelt power dam. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced earlier in the month that any involuntary lay-offs will be a breach of contract.
“It shows they’re (Alcoa) addressing the governor’s stance on the power agreement,” LaClair said.
Alcoa had announced earlier in the month that they would close the remaining two potlines at the Massena East plant by the end of the first quarter. They reported a $2.3 billion loss for 2013 and said in a statement that the plant is no longer competitive.
