Wenatchee deal hinges on national contract

The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) will negotiate the fate of 400 workers at Alcoa’s (AA-N) Wenatchee aluminum smelter in Washington state via its national agreement with the aluminum giant.

Terms put forward in Alcoa’s latest contract offer at Wenatchee will not be voted on by local union workers represented by the Wenatchee Trades Council, an affiliate of the USWA.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said it would permanently close the 182,000-tonne-per-year Wenatchee smelter and lay off about 400 employees beginning Oct. 1 unless unionized workers accept what Alcoa called its final proposal.

In response, local union members requested a vote on the deal after the Wenatchee Aluminum Trades Council rejected the offer.

Union officials say Alcoa’s latest proposal ignores a national contract already in place until 2006. The current contract was ratified in October 2001 and covers about 12,000 workers from 18 USWA unions at Alcoa’s primary aluminum, alumina and bauxite operations throughout the U.S.

The union contends Alcoa’s offer would require Wenatchee workers to share healthcare costs and make other concessions on issues that are already covered by the master contract.

Alcoa closed the Wenatchee smelter in July 2001 when aluminum prices and demand for the metal were both much lower than is currently the case. With electricity in the Pacific Northwest in short supply at the time, Alcoa opted to sell the plant’s power at a huge premium rather than operate the smelter. Terms of the 2001 power arrangement required the company to continue paying its idled workers at Wenatchee.

With aluminum prices skyrocketing, Alcoa reopened talks with the USWA in mid-July in an attempt to restart the smelter. Alcoa says it needs contract concessions and greater flexibility from Wenatchee workers to remain competitive.