Alcan CEO calls on unionized workers to open dialogue
over seized plant

DAVID PADDON Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) - The head of Alcan Inc. said Monday he's
concerned about safety at one of the company's Quebec
aluminum smelters, which has been taken over by
unionized workers.

"You have to remember these are facilities that use
very, very high levels of power, millions of amperes
of electricity, molten metal," Travis Engen said after
a speech to a Toronto business lunch.

While the unionized workers have done well operating
the smelter at Jonquiere, Que., on their own since
taking it over last week to protest plans to close it
this spring, affecting 550 jobs, Alcan management is
still responsible for the facility, he said.

"We're quite concerned about the potential for
something which might breach our health-and-safety
standards," Engen said.

But he added the company hasn't given any deadline to
the workers, who are represented by an affiliate of
the Canadian Auto Workers union.

"There will be some limits, obviously, because there
are some raw materials required to produce aluminum. I
would image the stocks of raw materials that are at
hand are falling. But there's no deadline," Engen
said.

Quebec's Labour Relations Board ruled late Friday that
the workers' actions were illegal. On Saturday,
thousands of people demonstrated against plans to
close the plant 10 years earlier than expected.

Engen said the 60-year-old smelter, which had been
slated to close in 2014 because its technology doesn't
meet more stringent environmental standards, is being
closed earlier because of the age of its workforce.

"We've been trying to find the right moment in time
when, because of the natural evolution of the
employment, that we'd have enough retirements to more
than offset the job reductions so that people could be
transferred and there would not be any layoffs," Engen
said.

Alcan had been in discussions with union
representatives before the company's announcement Jan.
22 that it plans to close the facility. But the
workers' representatives have been unwilling to talk
since then, he said.

"We remain open, interested, available. And would
welcome whatever steps could be taken to open up a
dialogue," Engen told reporters.

Alcan had started the closure process, which requires
several weeks. But Rolland Poirier, the union local's
general secretary, said in an interview the workers
took over the plant last Tuesday "and stopped the
closure process."

Poirier said Monday the mill's foremen are making
inspections at the mill, which still runs 24 hours a
day, "but the operating decisions are being made by
the operators."

The last of the four potlines was to be closed at the
start of April, Poirier said. He added that the Quebec
government has named a mediator to try to resolve the
dispute.

Although Alcan is rationalizing its global operations
since the acquisition of Pechiney SA of France in
December, Engen said the closure of the Jonquiere
smelter was due to its aging technology and desire to
avoid layoffs.

But Engen said he does expect layoffs will result from
its takeover of Pechiney, particularly some of the
functions at its Paris headquarters.

Montreal-based Alcan (TSX:AL) is the world's largest
aluminum producer by revenue after its recent takeover
of Pechiney, completed last month for $6.3 billion.