Posted on 06/23/2022 3:52:21 AM PDT by EBH
One of the U.S.'s top aluminum manufacturing plants has made massive cutbacks to its workforce, putting a halt to all operations for at least nine months, the company said on Wednesday.
Citing an "unprecedented rise in global energy prices," Century Aluminum in Kentucky announced they will be laying off 628 Hawesville Smelter employees starting August 5. In fact, mass layoffs are happening nationwide as fears of an economic downturn continue to escalate.
Century wrote in a letter to employees obtained by the Owensboro Times, which read:
"Unfortunately, an unprecedented rise in global energy prices arising from the Russian war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the price of energy in the U.S. and around the globe.
"The cost required to run our Hawesville, KY, facility has more than tripled the historical average in a very short period. Given these circumstances it is necessary to fully curtail operations for a period of approximately nine to twelve months at Hawesville until energy prices return to more normalized levels."
It added that in order to pause their operations for such a lengthy period, the layoff of the 628 Hawesville Smelter employees would need to take place.
The 628 employees also include 504 employees represented by the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial Service Workers Union, and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, the letter stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Government policies encourage migration of work to slave labor countries. Follow the money. It works every.single.time.
There is plenty to criticize when it comes to U.S. trade policy, but aluminum is a rare case where the trade imbalance actually makes sense.
The U.S. doesn't import huge volumes of aluminum because of our trade policy. We import so much because bauxite -- the rock with a high aluminum content that is used as the primary raw material in aluminum smelting -- isn't found in abundance anywhere in the U.S. In fact, China is the only bauxite source of consequence that is even located in the Northern Hemisphere. The other major producers are Australia, Brazil, India and Guinea.
Time for America to start ACTION to SAVE itself by FLUSHING ALL democrats (& RINO’s) from ALL PUBLIC OFFICE nationwide down to dog catcher!
Democrats are marxists bent on destroying America.
The NYC metro area has been circling the drain for years, and COVID accelerated the decline; besides lost jobs, remote work has killed many businesses reliant on foot traffic. In the suburbs, the discretionary spending that kept many businesses going is gone (due to the rising costs of groceries, rents, and gas); more and more people are being reduced to bare sustenance, and debt is rising.
Quick analysis...
This is bush’s 06 recession/depression finally playing itself out..
3 presidents later...
This is going to be a late 70’s/early 80’s level event, and unemployment will be rampant.
I’m not going to go on a rant about the last 3 presidents ignoring the chance to bring us in for a soft landing.
The last 3 presidents kept the printing presses a rollin..
Anyway, having lived through the last one, here is my advice for you young freepers out there...
1) If you have a job right now, cement yourself into it. There will be non available for quite a while.
2) Take full advantage of IRA/401K accounts. It will be a good time to get into the market.
3) Learn to make do with alot less.
The good news is that on the other side of this thing, we will be strong for decades.
Short term pain equals long term relief
I am no fan of unions, but I wouldn’t take that bet. Gas is almost double what it was when we had a real President. I expect the union, and it’s costs, have been here a long time.
Interesting take.
One thing: I don’t think there is such a thing as cementing yourself into a job. Everyone is expendable.
Might be the excuse the left needs to start nationalizing industry.
Here comes a can shortage probably in soft drinks and some canned foods, pet foods.
You are correct..
However, some are more “expendable” than others.
Work harder than everyone else, put out a superior product, and keep your head down.
Good Luck
Only a college education could give one the insight necessary to see how increases in energy prices cause prices to go up.
Any damn fool can see the trouble coming. It’s not if, it’s when and how much. This is for keeps.
PREMIERE
This Is Bad... Century Aluminum Shuts Down Due To Energy Inflation
Notice the mandatory “Putin’s fault” in the statement. I wonder how much they paid to The Bog Guy. There is way more to this.
As an aluminum supplier for the U.S. Navy, it’s possible they’re facing a lot of scrap aluminum coming on the market with the decommissioning of the Littoral combat ships.
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Perhaps… but this is what I can tell you.
Century has two plants in Kentucky… this one at Hawesville and one not too far away in Subree. These two plants were put up in the 60s because they were close to customers, good highway and river access and because of CHEAP RELIABLE COAL FIRED POWER STATIONS that provided all the electrical power they needed. In fact, the Big River Coleman power plant was right next door to the Hawesville plant.
In 2014, Century made the decision to start buying their power on the wholesale market to reduce costs. At that point, the Big River plant was idled and it stayed that way until 2021 when it was torn down. Meanwhile, over the years the power purchased by Century came from more and wind/solar sources…. Here is a comment in their 2020 ‘Sustainability Report’ on page 12….
“In the U.S., an increasing percentage of our
electricity is generated from renewable sources,
such as wind and solar. This percentage is
expected to increase significantly over the next
several years as the overall generation mix of
the Midcontinent Independent System Operator
(MISO) system becomes increasingly based on
renewable sources. We are also actively pursuing
opportunities to add renewable power sources
directly into the supply chain for our plants located
in Kentucky through bilateral arrangements.” https://s23.q4cdn.com/963478445/files/doc_downloads/2021/Century_Aluminum_2020_Sustainability_Report_Delivering_a_Sustainable_Future.pdf
I dunno but it seems to me that if you take a facility that is very highly dependent on the supply and cost of electricity and you decide to only go on to the wholesale market for the purchase and you do all this for ‘sustainability reasons’ instead of reliability reasons, that business model is going to eventually fail.
One more thing… I suspect they are angling for something else. This plant is the producer of the highest purity of aluminum in the U.S with their military being their primary application/customer and I suspect they are looking to them for a bailout for their stupid decisions.
One thing for sure, this had nothing to do with Russia and Ukraine...
Did you know that increases in prices increases prices?
Animal Farm
The story of our times today.
Once again I believe that it is necessary to mention one of the best books I have ever read: Nicaragua: Revolution In The Family, by Shirley Christian. While the entire book is fascinating, the section on rationing is appropriate for this discussion. All over Nicaragua there were thriving Farmers Markets. Many times each week farmers and ranches would bring their crops to the large and small cities and towns. They would sell and barter. The day after the communist Sandinista took power, all those Farmers Markets were illegal and all the food now belonged to the ‘people.’ Strict rationing was instituted, and any farmer or rancher who did not cooperate was named a ‘hoarder.’
The Sandinista also created a paper ‘shortage’ by taking (stealing) all paper, and controlling from then on all the paper production. The Sandinistas actually stated that the ‘new’ Nicaragua had the right to free speech, just no paper to print anything. (there was no internet yet).
President Trump demonstrated that a free people, with the freedom to Drill Baby Drill, can achieve energy independence. Obama / Biden are determined to destroy any and all inexpensive energy, and to eventually ration what is left.
The current Obama / Biden tyranny learned well from their teachers.
Beverage companies are already having to go overseas to buy aluminum cans. Been doing that a couple years now.
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