Alma union seeks more workers at Quebec aluminum smelter

Union representatives at Alcan's Alma aluminum smelter are seeking to increase the number of union workers at the Quebec plant above the near 900 current workers, according to Michel Arsenault, District 5 director of the United Steelworkers union. He told Platts this is one of the main issues brought up during the ongoing labor negations.

Alcan and Alma union representatives resumed negotiations this week to hash out terms of a new labor contract; the current five-year contract ends December 31. Arsenault said the ratio of 900 workers for 400,000 mt/year of production is a "high ratio per ton compared with any other smelters," except the nearby ABI smelter, in which Alcan holds a 25% interest. He said there are not enough workers in the plant to cover vacations and parental leave.

Arsenault also said there is a "major gap" in the salaries between the Alma and ABI workers, so the bargaining committee is also bringing up the issue of salary during the talks. "The [Alma] workers should be treated like those of ABI," he said. "There's no reason the working conditions should be that different."

Contracting out, pension and medicare and the length of the new contract are other issues that are being negotiated, he said. Alcan wants a contract that extends through 2015, but the union is seeking a three- to five-year contract.

"Things are progressing very slowly," Arsenault said of the talks, although the union is hoping to conclude a new labor contract prior to December 31, thus avoiding a strike. He said the bargaining committee is working hard to resolve the issues before New Year's. The union voted 89% for a strike mandate in a secret vote after "the company was not moving at the bargaining table. We wanted to get them to realize we are serious and demand that they should move [forward]."

With the help of a mediator, the two sides will bargain all the way to the deadline.

When asked about the possibility of the current contract being extended beyond December 31, Arsenault said it is "not impossible" to keep on bargaining and have people performing their work." But as it stands now, as of January 1, the union has the right to call a strike, and the company has the right to call a lockout.

An Alcan spokesman had described the talks as "amicable." He said, "Hopefully, it will be productive, but it's still too early to have a gauge in where they are." He added, "December 31 is rapidly approaching, so we'd like to have a positive outcome to the talks."

He said Alcan has contingency plans in place in the event of a strike. He said management is ready to take over the operations at the plant "for a period of time." He acknowledged this would impact production, "but by how much, we are not in a position to determine yet." One option would be to use replacement workers to help maintain production levels. He said other smelters in the region might not be able to help out that much in the event of a strike at Alma since "they are also at full capacity."