Ormet Begins Another Round of Job Cuts

Ormet is a name that  many of you may not have heard about in the past. For those of you who have never heard of them here is a look at how the company has chosen to describe itself, “Our mission is to produce superior quality alumina, aluminum and related products and services at competitive prices supported by an unequaled level of customer service which results in lasting customer relations and optimizes profitability. This is achieved by a highly motivated and innovative work force that recognizes the challenges of global competition. Ormet is further committed to making the corporation synonymous with leadership, integrity, high standards of employee and community relations, workplace safety and preservation of environmental resources.”

Sadly the company is getting ready to get rid of workers in order to (http://www.ormet.com/), “Ormet Corporation (“Ormet”) announced today it is issuing WARN notices to 250 employees at its Burnside, Louisiana alumina refinery primarily due to the already reduced operating level at Ormet’s Hannibal, Ohio aluminum smelting operation. The Company continues to actively pursue alternatives with the State of Ohio and AEP to mitigate the impact on Ormet of the recent PUCO rulings in the AEP Electric Security Plan (ESP) rate case finalized on August 8, 2012. The sizable impact of this ruling and the dramatic increase of the cost of electricity in Ohio over the past several years, in addition to the current aluminum market, have forced Ormet to significantly downsize its operations while exploring strategic alternatives. “We are still hopeful that we can all find short and longer term solutions to the substantial increase in our power costs and save these jobs.” said Mike Tanchuk, Ormet’s CEO. “

These kids of job cuts are enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current federal guidelines. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

This is not the first time that the company has chosen to resort to layoffs in order to cut back on its expenses. For those of you who missed out on our coverage of those earlier cuts the first time around here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed, “Well, apparently the company has come to the decision that it can deal with all of that without the help of between 30 and 50 of its workers. While the company has not put an exact number on the job cuts if its hits the higher number then these cuts will be enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current federal guidelines.”