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After Elkem Metals officials asked federal officials to waive the company's
minimum funding requirements for its pension plan, workers and retirees now
fear for their pensions, and 34 workers at Alloy have received notices this week
that they will lose their jobs.
The original Union Carbide plant once employed hundreds of regional workers,
but now employee about 200.
"The company wants more concessions. They threatened to lay off 115
employees," said Mike Price, vice president of Local 5-98 of the Paper,
Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.
Union Carbide sold the Alloy plant to the Norwegian company in 1981. The
company is one of the world's leading suppliers of metals and materials,
particularly ferroalloys and silicon metals. The metals manufactured at the plant
are used in a variety of products such as computers and airplane parts.
Union VP President Price said if the plant shuts down, it will have a terrible
impact on the Upper Kanawha Valley.
Thousands of chemical manufacturing jobs in the Kanawha Valley have shifted
to foreign countries."
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