By Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier & Press
Alcoa Inc. announced today it will cut about 15,000 positions in 2009.
The decision will lead to no more job losses at the company's Warrick Operations, according to Sally Rideout Lambert, a company spokeswoman. In October, the company had announced it would lay off about 100 workers in Warrick County in response to a large drop in the price of aluminum.
Lambert said those reductions were included in the total the company announced today.
"Today, the company does not anticipate anything beyond what we've previously announced," she said.
The 100 cuts occurred in the Warrick Operations' smelting division, Lambert said. Alcoa announced today it will lower its smelting output by an additional 135,000 metric tons in 2009, bringing the total reduction to 750,000 metric tons.
Lambert said the effects of the recession have not been as severe on the Warrick Operations' packaging division, which makes aluminum products used in beverage cans, lithographic sheets and other things.
"Demand from that end is holding up relatively well," she said.
About 2,100 people work at the Alcoa Warrick Operations, Lambert said.
In its announcement, Alcoa said will cut 13,500 employees, or 13 percent of its workforce in the world, by the end of 2009. It will also eliminate 1,700 contractor positions. Alcoa said it has frozen salaries and hiring where possible.
And it will try to sell four of its subsidiary businesses. They are those dealing in electronics and electronic systems, foil, automobile wheels and transportation products sold in Europe. The subsidiaries recorded an operating loss of $105 million in 2008 and are expected to fetch a price of about $100 million.
Alcoa also plans to cut its spending on capital projects by nearly half, or to $1.8 billion, in 2009.
Because of the changes, the company planned to record a charge of between $900 million and $950 million, or between $1.13 a share and $1.19 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. After being adopted, the changes are expected to save Alcoa around $450 million a year before taxes.
Shares of Alcoa stock, traded under the symbol AA, were being sold at $12.12 at the close of the market today. That was up 26 cents from the market's close of the previous day.