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ALCOA ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO EXTEND CONSULTATION PERIOD REGARDING SAN CIPRIÁN ALUMINUM PLANT IN SPAIN AND PURSUE POTENTIAL SALE

Alcoa has announced an agreement with the workers’ representatives for the San Ciprián aluminum plant in Spain to extend the deadline of the formal consultation period for collective dismissal to September 28, 2020.

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The agreement is endorsed by the national and regional governments and includes a process to evaluate a potential sale of the aluminum plant to GFG Alliance, an organization that publicly expressed interest in acquiring the facility.

A potential sale would include the 228,000 metric tons per year smelter and the casthouse. The aluminum facility will continue to operate during the sales evaluation process, consistent with the Company’s prior offer during the consultation period.

If a sales agreement is not reached by September 27, 2020, the Company and the workers’ representatives would then meet for one day on September 28, 2020, on the single topic of a social plan that would include government-supported unemployment benefits (ERTE), or, barring no agreement on an ERTE, the implementation of a permanent collective dismissal.

The formal consultation period began on June 25, 2020 and included discussions of a restructuring plan for the aluminum facility that aimed at ending persistent and recurring financial losses. On August 5, 2020, Alcoa announced that the last meeting of the formal consultation period ended without an agreement with the workers’ representatives. With the agreement announced today, the formal consultation period will be extended through September 28, 2020.

The San Ciprián site has both an aluminum plant and an alumina refinery. The alumina refinery is not included in the consultation or the sales process.


 

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