Arconic to freeze some U.S. pension benefits

Decision will affect 7,900 employees

Arconic disclosed Monday that it is freezing pension benefits for all of its approximately 7,900 U.S. salaried and nonunion hourly workers effective April 1, making the manufacturer the latest in a growing list of companies reining in their pension obligations.

The company said the decision will lower its 2018 pensionrelated expense by about $50 million from last year’s levels and reduce overall liabilities by about $140 million.

Arconic said it will contribute 3 percent of the affected employees’ pay to the company’s 401(k) plan. In addition, the company will make matching contributions of up to 6 percent of eligible compensation to the retirement savings plan.

And the company will make additional 3 percent contributions to the 401(k) accounts of the affected employees from April through December of this year.

Vas Nair, Arconic’s

executive vice president of human resources, said the decision “balances our need to deliver competitive, equitable benefits to all employees while maintaining market competitiveness.”

Arconic said it will take a first-quarter pretax charge of about $5 million related to the decision.

Retirees already collecting monthly pensions and former workers who have not retired yet will not be affected by the pension freeze.

The company was created in November 2016 when Alcoa split into two companies. The upstream mining and aluminum business retained the Alcoa name while the downstream businesses that make precision aluminum and titanium parts for the aerospace, automotive and other industries was named Arconic.

Arconic shares finished Monday at $29.76, up 15 cents.