By Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier & Press
Alcoa Warrick Operations isooking to reduce its staff by 145 workers by the end of March.
"We anticipate that many of our employees will be interested in a potential retirement option," said Jim Beck, communications and public affairs leader for Alcoa Warrick Operations.
Alcoa said the possibility of layoffs comes in response to a declining demand for its products. The company said it will try to avoid laying off employees by trying to get them to accept retirement offers instead.
The employees in danger of losing their jobs work in the plant's rigid-packaging division. The division makes aluminum sheets used in a variety of products, including food and drink cans and lithographic sheets.
Beck declined to say how many people work in the rigid-packaging division. He said both salaried and wage workers may lose their jobs, declining to estimate how many of each will be affected.
"It will be proportionate to their representation in the workforce," Beck said.
The Alcoa Warrick Operation employs about 2,100 people, about 1,500 of whom are members of Local 104 of the United Steelworkers. Marty Ellison, business manager for Local 104, said he learned of the possible layoffs Monday, the same day as workers at the plant.
Ellison said talks with Alcoa managers have already begun. His hope is "to negotiate some sort of severance benefit that will eliminate layoffs altogether."
Beck said Alcoa, in trying to avoid layoffs, will consider using options besides retirement offers. He declined to say what the alternatives may be.
The workforce at Alcoa Warrick Operations was last reduced in Nov. 2008. Forty people, formerly employed in the plant's smelting division, remain on layoff, Beck said.
Still, Alcoa has had some recent good news. After three quarters of losses in a row, the company reported a profit of $77 million, or 8 cents a share, for the third quarter of 2009. That was a 71 percent drop in earnings from the $268 million, or 33 cents a share, the company enjoyed in the same period of 2008.
Still, the recent profit came after a quarter that saw Alcoa report a loss of $454 million, or 47 cents a share. In its latest earnings release, the company said it expects the demand for aluminum to improve in the second half of 2010, driven partly by business from China.
Ed Hemmersbach, the manager of Warrick Operations' rigid-packaging division, said he regrets having to consider layoffs.
"This is a difficult, but necessary decision," he said. "While we continue to pursue additional business, it is clear that we need to take action now."