Kitimat Spared Rio Tinto Alcan's First Round of Cuts in 2009
By 250 News
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 01:58 PM
Prince George, B.C.- So far, Kitimat has not made it to the list of Rio Tinto Alcan plants that will be seeing job losses or production curtailments.
RioTinto Alcan released information today saying it was cutting its workforce by a further 800 direct employees and 300 contractors and pulling back aluminium production by a further 6%.
The reductions include the permanent closure of a smelter in Quebec (220 jobs) and reducing production at a Quebec refinery.
“There is nothing in today’s announcement that directly impacts the Kitimat operations” says RioTinto Alcan spokesperson Stefano Bertolli, “However, all operations have been advised they are to reduce their operating costs.”
The goal is to align production with demand and reduce operating costs and streamline the organization.
There is no indication Kitimat will be spared from production cut backs or job losses once the new CEO for Rio Tinto Alcan completes her full review of all operations. Jacynthe Cote is expected to complete that review early next month.
The company has already put on hold the smelter expansion plans in Kitimat.
The changes throughout the company are part of the plan announced by Rio Tinto in December. At that time, the company outlined plans to cut 14 thousand jobs of which 5,500 would be direct employees, another 8,500 would be contractors.
The plans have been put in place to reduce Rio Tinto Alcan’s spending from $9 billion to $4 billion this year.
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Posted by: opine on January 20 2009 2:10 PM