Vale Inco, Alcoa And U.S. Steel Cutting Back

Responding to the ongoing slowdown in the nickel market, Vale Inco, the nickel division of Vale (RIO-N), has announced 900 job cuts worldwide. Most of the affected jobs are in the corporate, management and business support areas.

“Unfortunately, the tough decisions announced today are necessary in these exceptional times,” said Tito Martins, Vale Inco president and CEO, in a release. He blamed the job cuts on low nickel prices and reduced demand for the metal.

Cory McPhee, Vale Inco’s director of external communications, says that 423 of the job cuts will be in Canada, with 261 of those in Sudbury, Ont. Vale employs a total workforce of 14,000 globally.

U. S. Steel (X-N) is also temporarily laying off 1,500 people at the finishing and coking operations at the Hamilton Works in Hamilton, Ont., and the steelmaking and finishing operations at the Lake Erie Works, near Nanticoke, Ont.

The company expects the idling to last a few weeks.

Aluminum giant Alcoa (AA-N) has also announced cutbacks in Canada. Pierre Desprs, Alcoa Canada’s vice-president of public and government affairs, says the company is planning to reduce work hours at its Quebec smelters by 15%, with a corresponding reduction in payroll. The measure will not decrease aluminum production. Alcoa Canada Primary Metals employs more than 3,000 people at its Quebec operations.

Desprs says Alcoa is starting talks with its unionized and non-unionized workers, seeking to reach an agreement by the end of the month. He blames the cuts on economic circumstances and low aluminum prices. Alcoa says that aluminum inventory levels, at 3.2 million tonnes, are the highest on record, and prices are 60% off since mid-2008.