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Alcoa Cutting Jobs, Capacity by Staff Puget Sound Business Journal, April 21, 2003

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. said Wednesday it's eliminating jobs, reducing production and temporarily closing a smelter. The moves affect four plants in three states.

The Pittsburgh-based company will pare 150 hourly and salaried jobs at its Rockdale, Texas, plant, where about 1,400 workers are employed.

Production at its two Massena, N.Y., plants will be temporarily reduced, affecting about 24 percent of the plants' capacity.

The New York capacity reductions will last as long as market conditions warrant, Alcoa said.

Also, the company will temporarily curtail production in Ferndale, Wash., beginning Sept. 30. It said the threat of higher power prices was forcing it to take that step.

The combined shutdowns in New York and Washington will leave about 675,000 metric tons per year of idle capacity.

Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, is based on the North Shore.