Guinea RUSAL alumina refinery strike ends

* RUSAL refuses to meet salary demands * Guinea to set up commission on Friguia sale (Adds union, RUSAL quotes, background) By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, April 8 (Reuters) - A week-long strike which cut output at RUSAL's Friguia alumina refinery in Guinea to 40 percent of capacity ended on Wednesday after the personal intervention of the country's military leader, the firm and a trade union said. "Starting today the normal operations of the bauxite and alumina complex Friguia will be restored without any salary increase," the Russian company said in a statement. Workers at the West African plant, which employs more than 1,000 people and has capacity to refine enough raw material bauxite to produce 640,000 tonnes of alumina per year, went on strike last Wednesday for higher salaries, a demand the world's biggest aluminium producer rejected. "Work restarted today as the President asked," said Sekou Ousname Diallo, general secretary of Friguia's trade union. A government delegation was due to travel to Friguia on Wednesday to impress upon workers "the necessity of keeping the refinery functional," he said. "It is essential for us that the decisions have been made that workers and unions will strictly abide by the law as well as respect the rights of RUSAL ... This is the kind of support from the state RUSAL has relied on in the current situation," the firm said. The military junta that in December seized power in Guinea, the world's No. 1 source of aluminium ore bauxite, has threatened to review and potentially cancel contracts mining companies signed with the previous administration. RUSAL said its 2006 purchase of the refinery would be scrutinised. "We also welcome the decision to establish a commission on the privatisation of Friguia, which will thoroughly study the situation and give its final conclusion, because we are fully confident that RUSAL privatised Friguia legitimately," the firm said in Wednesday's statement. RUSAL said earlier this year it would reduce metals output and jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme. Prices of aluminium as traded on the London Metal Exchange have fallen by around 50 percent in the last twelve months. Analysts say the outlook for demand remains weak as car manufacturing, one of aluminium's biggest consuming markets, has been particularly hard hit by the global financial crisis.