Alcoa to cut Canada smelter payroll cost by 15 pct

TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc plans to chop payroll costs by 15 percent at its Canadian smelting operations in Quebec, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Alcoa, which like the rest of the aluminum industry has been stung by a sharp drop in prices, will cut management salaries starting next month and plans to negotiate lower wages or fewer hours worked with unionized workers.

"The entire industry has been under a lot of strain," Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said. The cuts will apply at the company's head office in Montreal, at the Baie-Comeau, Becancour, and Deschambault smelters, and at the Becancour Rod Plant.

Together, the operations employ nearly 3,600 people and have annual output of more than one million tonnes of aluminum products. Alcoa's operations in Ontario and Alberta will not be affected, Lowery said. The company said in January it would cut more than 15,000 jobs, slash capital spending, and sell some business to reduce aluminum production in the face of declining demand.
The price of aluminum has dropped about 60 percent since peaking at $3,380 per tonne last July. Alcoa's shares, which hit a 52-week high of $44.76 on the New York Stock Exchange last May, were up 14.8 percent at $6.35 on Wednesday. (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Janet Guttsman) Keywords: ALCOA/CANADA (cameron.french@thomsonreuters.com; 416-941-8199: Reuters Messaging: cameron.french.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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