BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA -- Arconic will lay off 24 people as a result of what their union president calls “COVID-related and business condition-related” cuts.

The layoffs will be effective June 1, said United Steelworkers Local 420 President Mark Goodfellow. He said they should be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.

"Truly there's no timetable to it, unfortunately. It's not like a two-week kind of layoff,” he said. "The downturn in the market's everywhere. It’s affected everything."

He believes the two dozen workers would be called back if the market improves and business picks up.

“It all depends on orders. If orders do puck up, they should be coming back to work,” he said.

He said the economic downturn has also affected Alcoa, but those jobs are now secure.

"Everybody’s coming to work every day,” he said. "There’s been no discussion about layoffs or anything at Alcoa."

He said some workers have opted to take voluntary layoffs, but only “a handful” have done that.

USW Local 420 represents over 500 laborers at Massena’s Alcoa and Arconic facilities. Arconic was formed in 2016 when Alcoa split into the two publicly traded companies.

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