ROCKDALE - Debbie J. Hemmitt Grayson, 43, a rover pot tender at Alcoa Inc.’s Rockdale aluminum smelter, believed that after three years on the job she could count on job security.

But on Oct. 19, Mrs. Grayson will join the ranks of the unemployed, along with her son and a brother who has worked for Alcoa almost four years.

Alcoa last Friday posted departure dates for about 300 employees, all members of United Steelworkers of America Local 4895. Some 100 lose their jobs Sunday, with an additional 60 jobs to be lost Sept. 7, and 140 more who will be jobless in mid-October. Personnel cutbacks also will impact 100 contract employees, Alcoa officials stated.

In June, Alcoa temporarily idled half of the six operating potlines blaming “ongoing supply interruptions and local market energy costs increasing to as much as $2,000 to $4,000 per megawatt hour during peak hours.”

Luminant owns the lignite-fired Sandow Steam Electric Station Unit 4 that supplies Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations with electricity.

The electric company’s “inability to consistently operate the Sandow Unit 4 for our Rockdale Operations over the last few months, has resulted in uncompetitive power and forced us to make this decision,” said John Thuestad, president of Alcoa’s U.S. Primary Metals Division.

Luminant officials contend the electric company has offered Alcoa additional price protections along with a stable, predictable and economically viable power supply. “Alcoa has refused, taking an inflexible stance, seeking power at unrealistically advantageous terms and demanding a price far below the prevailing commercial market price,” Luminant officials stated.

“We will continue to fully honor the long-term contractual agreement with Alcoa, under the terms of which Alcoa has received prices that are linked to the costs and performance of the Sandow 4 unit, which have been generally well below prevailing market prices,” the electric company stated.

Last Friday, the corporate conflict wound up in Milam County’s 20th District Court, with Alcoa suing Luminant.

“Luminant holds all the cards in this deal,” said Alcoa employee Ron Embrey. “We basically sold ourselves out by not building the power plant ourselves and by selling the mines so now we are at Luminant’s mercy as far as the power. We are caught in the middle.”

Embrey, 44, a carbon setter and six-year Alcoa employee, has never been laid off and is not among those losing their jobs over the next two months. But Embrey, like his fellow Steelworkers, is scared.

“A lot of people see this as a prelude to maybe shutting this little plant down,” Embrey said. “If it shuts down, it’s going to take this town and this area is definitely going to feel it pretty hard.”

That’s a scenario Alcoa spokesman Jim Hodson said isn’t in the works.

“There is no activity to close the entire plant, or attempt to close the entire plant,” Hodson said on Thursday. “We will continue to operate at least a while with three lines, and our job is to be competitive in the world aluminum market with a three-line operation.”

The company is expected to continue to manufacture aluminum ingots with three potlines into the new year, but Hodson said he had no definite information on when idled potlines would be restarted. Under its current contract with Luminant, Sandow 4 provides enough electric power for Alcoa to operate 4½ potlines, but Alcoa has no plans to increase capacity to that level, Hodson said.

Up until three weeks ago, Alcoa employees were told there would be no layoffs, Mrs. Grayson said.

“I feel like I have been betrayed, I feel like I have been let down. I was told it was slim to none that I would be laid off. Three weeks later, I am being laid off,” she said.

Robert Musto Jr., a headtapper in the smelter for the past seven months, had no illusions about his future with Alcoa when layoffs were announced in June. Musto knew his name would be on the layoff list because of his lack of tenure. Musto will be out of work at the end of his eight-hour shift Sunday.

He speaks matter-of-factly about options for supporting his family: his wife, 23-month-old twins and 5-year-old daughter. He may return to work in Austin as a heavy equipment operator because all he can expect is state unemployment and one month of health insurance benefits. There also is the opportunity to transfer to Alcoa locations at Point Comfort and Alcoa, Tenn.

The salary and benefits attracted Musto to move from Travis County to Rockdale and sign on with Alcoa.

Alcoa employees earn an average of $20 an hour plus benefits and overtime, pay that cannot compare with earnings from other entry-level jobs in Rockdale, Musto said.

“They told us we weren’t getting laid off three weeks ago. I went out and spent all this money on school clothes for my little girl. Now I am getting laid off. I wish I had saved money a little more,” he said.

The loss of 300 jobs will impact the community because “we get paid well, but we do a tough job. We buy the gas, we buy the groceries, we buy the cars, we help power the community,” added Embrey.

“It’s hot, it’s dirty, it’s nasty, it’s an old plant, 50 years old and it’s a tough plant to work in,” he said. “You earn your pay.”

Added Musto: “You are so hot the sweat coming out of your body burns your face as it rolls down the side of your face.”

David Edmonds, USWA Local 4895 president and a 39-year Alcoa veteran, said the workforce is concerned because with three potlines running “it’s difficult to make a real good profit margin.”

“The thing that worries me, is if they don’t start back up, then how long will corporate Alcoa decide to run three potlines in Rockdale,” Edmonds said.

“I just hope the two corporations can find middle ground for a reasonable power contract,” he said. “I hope they find a reasonable power contract so we can keep people working in this area.”

Meanwhile, unemployment is looming for some 300 Alcoa employees.

After she ends her last shift in October, Mrs. Grayson and her teenage daughter will live on state unemployment and supplemental unemployment benefits or SUB-Pay ensured through the USWA labor contract with Alcoa.

Mrs. Grayson is mulling employment options. She may transfer to another Alcoa plant, or return to her old job at the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. Mrs. Grayson believed she was immune to layoffs because of her three-year tenure.

“They said they were not going to bother anyone over two years,” Mrs. Grayson said. “Three members of one family within a 30-day period will be laid off.”