Thread: ALCOA To Lay Off 13,000 Workers

Just heard on Fox that ALCOA plans to lay off 13,000 workers. The unemployment rate continues to skyrocket and the schmucks called Congress still are looking at making life more comfortable for those illegally in the US in the form of a 1 trillion dollar taxpayer financed Ponzi scheme called a stimulus which will be an illegal alien jobs and benefits giveaway......

Originally Posted by retiredairforce

Just heard on Fox that ALCOA plans to lay off 13,000 workers. The unemployment rate continues to skyrocket and the schmucks called Congress still are looking at making life more comfortable for those illegally in the US in the form of a 1 trillion dollar taxpayer financed Ponzi scheme called a stimulus which will be an illegal alien jobs and benefits giveaway......

I'm sorry....but Good God Almighty! How much more can we take??? We are in serious trouble here!

This is very upsetting! We must not give up and continue to fight back in any way that we can regardless of all the betrayals we are confronted with by our government.

Alcoa to cut global workforce by 13%
Aluminum manufacturer to trim payroll by 13,500 employees by end of 2009.
By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: January 6, 2009: 5:32 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. said Tuesday it will slash its global workforce by 13%, or 13,500 jobs, by the end of the year as a way to remain competitive during the global economic recession.

The company said it made the move to hold on to cash and cut costs.

"These are extraordinary times, requiring speed and decisiveness to address the current economic downturn, and flexibility and foresight to be prepared for future uncertainties in our markets," said Klaus Kleinfeld, chief executive of Alcoa. "We are taking a wide-ranging set of aggressive, but prudent, measures to ensure that Alcoa maintains its competitive lead in today's challenging markets while also emerging even stronger when the economy recovers."

In addition to the job cuts, the company said it has also cut 1,700 contractor positions and instituted a global hiring and salary freeze.

Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), a Dow Jones industrial average component, said it plans to reduce its total aluminum output by more than 750,000 million tons per year, or 18% of its annualized aluminum output. The company also said that it continues to try to get raw materials from less expensive suppliers around the world, hoping to cut costs by 20% in each of the materials it purchases.

In all, the company expects to save an annualized $450 million before taxes.

Alcoa, like many materials producers, has been hurt by falling demand for fabricated goods during the recent economic slump.

Earlier Tuesday, the Census Bureau reported new factory orders fell for the fourth-straight month in November.On Friday, the Institute for Supply Management said its national manufacturing index hit a new 28-year low in December.

"It's just a sign of the times," said Scott Paul, executive director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing. "A lot of manufacturing jobs have been lost because facilities simply have had no orders."

As a result of its cutbacks, Alcoa projected capital expenditures in 2009 would fall 50% from 2008 levels to $1.8 billion. Alcoa said it will likely take between a $900 and $950 million hit to earnings in the fourth quarter of 2008, amounting to about $1.13 to $1.19 per share.

Analysts currently expect Alcoa to report a loss of 5 cents per share for the fourth quarter. The company is scheduled to release those results on January 12.

Alcoa shares fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/06/news/companies/alcoa/

Checking the stock price at close today, the stock went up a tad but is still falling even after the announcement. Peculiar is that they just paid a dividend of 17 cents per share in November. If a company knows it has to cut costs, it should be dividends to the stockholders, not the workers that make company profits possible and even allow the company to exist. As for stockholders, guaranteed the majority of shareholders were not participating in funding the company by investing in the original IPOs. These shareholders bought their shares from someone, who bought from someone else, etc. Alcoa does not really benefit from the market price of their stock. Who benefits mostly is the hierarchy who get stock options as part of their benefit plans, and the workers who have the stock in their 401k. Of course, the workers have seen those accounts worth less than the money they faithfully put in every paycheck.

PatrioticMe, the worst is yet to come. In December, unemployment hit a 26 year high and predictions are that the worst of it won't peak until around June. I am in the manufacturing sector and I have seen the problem beginning to snowball as early as October of last year. I am not close enough to retirement to jump out of this madness but I have seen my retirement going down the drain along with the prospect of finding another job if I should lose mine. We can all do our best to stay optimistic but there will come a time when the citizens of this country will have to take drastic steps or stand by and watch everything we love vanish.

Originally Posted by PatrioticMe

Originally Posted by retiredairforce

Just heard on Fox that ALCOA plans to lay off 13,000 workers. The unemployment rate continues to skyrocket and the schmucks called Congress still are looking at making life more comfortable for those illegally in the US in the form of a 1 trillion dollar taxpayer financed Ponzi scheme called a stimulus which will be an illegal alien jobs and benefits giveaway......

I'm sorry....but Good God Almighty! How much more can we take??? We are in serious trouble here!

TexasBorn, I agree with you totally. We do have to take stock of our lives and sustenance, like the safety of the food and water we need just to maintain life. We really don't need products manufactured overseas, and while it may keep an American store clerk employed, the ultimate profit is going to a middleman and a foreign country that is enriching their people at our expense. We don't need cheap illegal labor taking our jobs to enrich the folks back home. Etc., etc., etc.
We cannot continue to be so complacent while everything this country has accomplished is eroded or suddenly pulled out from under us.