Locked Out Workers Protest Outside Alcoa Shareholders' Meeting

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - You could hear them, before you saw them.

About 100 workers from an ABI Aluminum smelter in Quebec marched with Pittsburgh Police escorts, down Liberty Avenue Wednesday morning, from the United Steelworkers building to the Westin Hotel.

With horns and flags in hand, the group is protesting being locked out of their jobs and failure to reach a deal with Alcoa, which is the majority owner of ABI.

"We spent the whole winter outside. We're a good group, it's hard, it's hard on our families, it's hard on us personally and we've been through a rough time the last four months and we're here to tell the Alcoa shareholders that we're not afraid of them and we're going to continue this manifest," Jennie Boucher, an ABI employee said.

The locked out workers who came to Pittsburgh say they are here to represent more than 1,000 of their colleagues who are also not working. Alain Croteau, the director of the United Steelworkers Union in Quebec, said shutting down and restarting two lines at the smelter has cost the company $164 million in lost income.

"The problem is not the money, the problem is not the pension plan," said Croteau. "The problem is the administration of Alcoa now."

ABI employee Bryan Sawyer added, "… a fair contract, that's what we want."

A few of the workers went inside the Westin Hotel to join the shareholder meeting. The group says they will continue rallies until an agreement is reached.