Alcoa to shutter auto parts plant

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa (AA-N) will shed 140 jobs by year-end by closing an automotive parts plant in Northwood, Ohio. The aluminum giant cited “excess capacity” at the facility as the reason for the closure.

Alcoa will spend US$7 million closing the plant, of which about US$3 million will be recorded against third-quarter earnings. The company will try to find a buyer for Northwood while diverting existing orders to other Alcoa facilities.

Northwood employees will receive severance packages and ongoing benefits, which are slated for negotiation.

“The decision to close this facility was a difficult one and in no way reflects negatively on the efforts of our dedicated workforce,” says Eric Winter, vice-president of operations and engineering for Alcoa Advanced Transportation Systems (AATS).

Alcoa has 120,000 employees in 42 countries and is dealing with several labour disputes at its operations throughout North America.

Contract talks resumed in late August at the 400,000-tonne Becancour smelter in Quebec. Production at the smelter has been cut by two-thirds, owing to a 6-week-long strike, but Alcoa also faces four potential strikes at facilities in Tennessee, Iowa, Texas and Indiana. Unions at those operations have filed grievances over contracting out jobs, and the United Steelworkers of America says it is creating a team to study complaints about outsourcing.

Separately, restarting Alcoa’s 182,000-tonne Wenatchee smelter in Washington hinges on a new labour agreement after a 3-year shutdown. Alcoa has threatened to close Wenatchee and lay off around 400 employees unless its final contract proposal is accepted.