Alcan workers at Kitimat, B.C., refuse to smelt alumina from Orissa, India

Alcan workers at Kitimat, B.C., refuse to smelt alumina from Orissa, India

Canadian Press

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Montreal (CP) - Employees at two of Alcan Inc.'s major smelting operations in Canada are joining resistance to the company's proposed mining project in the Kashipur region of India's eastern state of Orissa.

Workers represented by the Canadian Auto Workers through Local 2301 in Kitimat, B.C., and the affiliated Syndicat national des employés de l'aluminium in Arvida, Que., now have passed resolutions supporting local Indian opposition to the mining.

A Montreal-based group called Alcan't in India, which has been organizing protests against the Kashipur project, said in a release Tuesday that another demonstration is planned for Alcan's annual meeting April 28 in Montreal.

A resolution recently passed by CAW Local 2301 says workers at the smelting facility will "refuse to smelt any alumina shipped to B.C. from Alcan's eventual operations in Orissa."

For more than a decade, tribal people in Kashipur have been fighting against plans for a billion-dollar bauxite extraction and alumina refining project. Alcan (TSX:AL) owns 45 per cent of the joint venture, called Utkal Alumina International Ltd.