BAUXITE workers at Windalco, majority owned by Russian company US Rusal, have accepted a 40 per cent cut in salary and a reduction of hours to a three-day work-week, effective April 1.

National Workers Union (NWU) and UC Rusal signed off Tuesday on the agreement that will seek to save jobs instead of widespread layoff as the bauxite company closes production in reaction to depressed global markets.

"The plants are in a shutdown mode and come the end of March they will cease the production of alumina in Jamaica," NWU President Vincent Morrison told the Observer yesterday.

"Come the first of April, everyone will be on a three-day week," said Morrison. "We had a meeting with the workers and they have accepted."

The interim agreement remains in force until December 31, 2009.

According to a copy of the agreement sent to the Observer, it is to be reviewed after the prescribed period and if there are no significant changes in the global bauxite market the terms will be extended.

In the event that the plants return to normal production, the agreement would immediately come to an end, the agreement said.

Windalco employs approximately 850 permanent and temporary workers at its Kirkvine and Ewarton plants.
"This affects everybody, unionised and non-unioised, all the workers right across the board," Morrison said.

UC Rusal, the world's largest alumina producer, part-owns Windalco along with the Jamaican Government, and holds majority shares in the Alpart alumina plant.

In mid-January, Alpart cut its temporary staff corps of 250 and announced that further assessments would decide its total workforce as aluminium demand fell worldwide.

The St Elizabeth-company also cut its production volume by 50 per cent down from 1.65 million tonnes as a consequence of the contraction in world demand.

Unionised workers at Alpart, which is 65 per cent owned by Rusal and 35 per cent by Norsk Hydro of Norway, in January accepted reduced working hours and salary cut to a minimum of 60 per cent effective for four months.