THE NATIONAL Workers Union (NWU) is disputing WINDALCO's decision to cut over 100 jobs by the end of the month.
The bauxite company said the redundancies were part of a cost-cutting exercise designed to make its business more price-competitive on the global market.
However, in a letter dated Tuesday to WINDALCO, Norman DaCosta, NWU vice-president and deputy island supervisor, said there was no justification for what he called "a crudely planned redundancy exercise."
The redundancies would be made across "all categories" of workers, WINDALCO Communications Officer Kayon Headley told The Gleaner. However, Ms. Headley said she could not answer 'yes' or 'no' as to whether management positions would be affected.
"This is a result of a very difficult 2005," she reasoned. "We have been hit with high global prices and chemical prices and our operating margin has just about been eroded by that, despite high alumina and metal prices."
INCREASED OPERATING COSTS
WINDALCO further argued in a statement released yesterday, that exhausting capacity at its Kirkvine plant had forced it to mine lower grade bauxite in the Blue Mountains, increasing the company's operating costs by US$12 million per year. The statement said Kirkvine had also lost 40,000 tonnes in capacity through 'process constraints'. A three-year US$100 million plan has been prepared to recover the Kirkvine plant, the bauxite company said.
However, Mr. DaCosta, in his letter said: "No measures have been looked at to avert retrenchment. Over the past three years job losses at WINDALCO have far outpaced job creation, despite the fact that global alumina market fundamentals have shifted in favour of the producer."
He claimed that the company was not taking into account the effect on employees made redundant, and that the U.S.
dollar cost of compensation packages, "has been drastically reduced to pre-1998 levels." He said the NWU was willing to discuss alternatives to redundancies, including support to increase attrition; promoting early retirement; regulating hours per employee, rather than employees per organisation; and minimising overtime.
