The majority of unionized workers voted against Alcoa's latest labor offer received last week; will prolong lockout

About 82% of unionized workers at Monday's meeting rejected Alcoa's latest offer, according to the latest reports. Over 800 unionized employees met on Monday to vote onAlcoa's proposal submitted to the union on March 4, but the majority voted against it.

Alcoa reportedly expressed disappointment about the union's decision to reject "a fair and competitive offer" which if it were to be ratified could have ended the ongoing fourteen-month labor-contract dispute and would have led to a "business resumption plan" for the smelter.

Lockout and curtailed production to continue. The 446-kmtpy smelter currently has about 350 kmtpy of idled capacity as a result of the ongoing lockout that began in January of 2018 after unionized employees rejected a labor-contract offer.

ABI is jointly owned by Alcoa (74.95%) and Rio Tinto (25.05%) and produced 136 kmton of primary aluminum in 2018, down 69% y/y due to the lockout's impact.