Alcan lays off nearly 60 workers at KY plant

SEBREE, KY (WFIE) - Dozens of line workers at the Alcan aluminum plant in Sebree, Kentucky were laid off Monday and more layoffs are expected Tuesday. Nearly 60 workers were expected to get the bad news here at the Alcan Sebree aluminum plant, more victims of the struggling economy. Alcan spokesman Kenny Barkley said, "Where it stems from is trying to reduce a certain amount of money and doing so by efficiency measures, and what we haven't been able to do in efficiency measures, we have had to lay off workers." A half year ago, Alcan was financially stable, but with aluminum prices in a free fall, it's become impossible to conduct business as usual. "We had no idea this was coming like it is. The aluminum prices were doing really well in 2008, in fact they were in record territory, but then as the global economic situation started decreasing, the price of aluminum dropped by half," said Barkley. According to Barkley, the plant tried to reduce costs without layoffs, but was unable to cut enough to avoid them. Alcan's labor contract is based on seniority, so those being laid off are younger line workers. Employees have known since December that if the economic situation didn't pick up and cost-cutting measures were not enough, a layoff was possible. Management met with those employees Monday and will continue on Tuesday, and the names of those who are laid off will be posted at the end of the day Tuesday. Barkley said, "We hope later on that we won't have to do any other type of layoffs, but then again we will have to watch for the economy and see what it does." Barkley also told 14 News that the last layoff at the plant was in 1994. ©2009 WFIE. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.