Alcoa aluminum company is cutting 13,500 jobs - 13 percent of its worldwide workforce - including 450 employees at its Alcoa, Tenn., operations, leaving city officials "in shock."
The Pittsburgh-based manufacturer is cutting all smelting at its Alcoa, Tenn., plant as part of an 18-percent reduction in annual primary aluminum output. That's a total drop in smelting output of 750,000 metric tons per year.
The rigid packaging division operations in Tennessee aren't affected, the company release states.
The 450 jobs being lost come from a total of about 1,500 in Blount County and will occur by the end of the first quarter, company spokesman Kevin Lowery said.
"It is a temporary curtailment," Lowery said. "It is our hope" that operations can be ramped back up in the future.