SMM8, Feb. 8 / PRNewswire-Asianet /-Alcoa workers in Western Australia have begun an indefinite strike over a labor agreement dispute, Australian trade unions said Wednesday. In a statement, the union said the strike was due to Alcoa's request to Australian factory regulators to terminate the existing agreement. Alcoa currently has three alumina plants and two bauxite mines in the region, and Alcoa has an annual capacity interest of 8.97 million tons of alumina, involving about 1600 people employed. The union says it has spent 20 months trying to reach a deal with Alcoa. AWU Western Australia Secretary Mike Zoetbrood said, "our members are reasonable, the only demand is fair and reasonable, that is, to get a secure good job." However, union members will not accept pressure from the company to terminate the agreement, threatening us to accept substandard working conditions. " "basically all of Alcoa's more than 1500 AWU members at its WA plant have left their jobs," he added in an email.

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