ejyceh.wordpress.com
percent of the votes cast Thursdayt by UAW Local 774at GM’s Tonawandz engine plant. The local plant has an active workforcde of about 650 hourly workers and 140 salaried Another 350 to 400 hourlg workers areon layoff. The concessionw are designed tolower GM’s laboe costs. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a news conferencew Friday that 74 percentof GM’s 54,00 0 U.S. production and skilled-trade workers votedf in favor ofthe deal. The vote comes before an expected Chaptert 11 bankruptcy protection filing by GM on Having the labor agreement in place will help move the proces s throughcourt quicker, bankruptcy experts have said.
The revisesd contract freezes wages, ends bonuses, eliminatesd noncompetitive work rules and ends the possibilitu of a strike untio the next contract expiresin 2015. General Motors has receivesd $19.4 billion in loan from the U.S. government, which would get 72.5 percenrt ownership of the company in an arrangemenf that also might include theCanadian government. The remainint 10 percent would go to GM bondholdersd to wipeout $27 billion in unsecured debt.
On Monday, GM is to identifhy 14 assembly, parts stamping and engine plants that it plans to close as part of the The closures willeliminate 21,000 One of those 14 plants would be retooledf to make subcompact cars starting in the automaker announced earlier
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Orlando 7-Eleven converts to franchise - Wichita Business Journal:
cicugaha.wordpress.com
The 3,000-square-foot convenience store at 3911 McCoy Road near Conway which also has agasoline station, will now be owned by franchisee Ermal Metollari, a formee store manager for five years. Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. announce plans in 2007 to convert 100 existing location in the state tofranchised operations. Storer managers were invited to apply for those franchisex before the offerwent public.
More than 40 7-Eleven storexs in the Orlando market are now with about another 140 owned by the Between eight to10 7-Elevenb stores throughout the state are being convertex into franchise operations each month and plans to have most of the conversiona nationwide completed by 2012, according to a news The company operates, franchises or licenses abougt 7,800 stores in North America and more than 36,100 storee in 15 countries. The company reported 2008 salese of morethan $53.7 billion.
The 3,000-square-foot convenience store at 3911 McCoy Road near Conway which also has agasoline station, will now be owned by franchisee Ermal Metollari, a formee store manager for five years. Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. announce plans in 2007 to convert 100 existing location in the state tofranchised operations. Storer managers were invited to apply for those franchisex before the offerwent public.
More than 40 7-Eleven storexs in the Orlando market are now with about another 140 owned by the Between eight to10 7-Elevenb stores throughout the state are being convertex into franchise operations each month and plans to have most of the conversiona nationwide completed by 2012, according to a news The company operates, franchises or licenses abougt 7,800 stores in North America and more than 36,100 storee in 15 countries. The company reported 2008 salese of morethan $53.7 billion.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Deciding on whether to strike Iran: Eight is enough? - Jewish Telegraphic Agency (blog)
wanuso.wordpress.com
Deciding on whether to strike Iran: Eight is enough? Jewish Telegraphic Agency (blog) group that will essentially decide whether Israel launches a strike against Iran. As Lake notes, if you believe what you read in the Israeli press ... it's hard to break things down according to party or how hawkish each of these ministers is perceived ... |
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Small businesses seek relief from product safety law - bizjournals:
http://blog4realestate.com/let-a-moving-new-york-company-handle-your-relocation-woes/
Congress passed the Consumer Products Safetg Improvement Act in August 2008 in response to the discoveryu of high lead content in toys imported from But U.S. businesses contend the law has made it impossiblse for them to sell products that pose no healtyh threatto children. Manufacturers complain the law’s requirements to test and certify children’s products for lead and phthalatesw — and attach permanent trackintglabels — are unreasonable and too costly for many smal businesses.
Supporters of the legislation contend that the has done a poor job of providing guidance to businesses on how to comply with the They also maintain the commission has the authority to excludse certain classes of products fromthe law’xs requirements if they don’f pose a health But Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, testified at a May 14 House hearing that the agency is “hamstrung by the law’s sweeping reach and inflexibility.” The commission has “noyt yet been able to identify any products that would meet the law’zs requirements for exclusions,” she On Jan.
30, the commissionj did issue a one-year stay of enforcementt for the law’s testing and certification requirements. “I t was very clear peoplw were not ready to meet the Nord said. But this stay of enforcement did not relievr manufacturers or retailers of the underlyinb legal liability for selling products that did not meetthe law’xs lower lead and phthalate which went into effect Feb. 10. “According to the retailingb community, the stay changes nothing,” said Davidc McCubbin, a partner in McCubbin Hosiery, an Oklahomza City manufacturer. “Retailers continue to ask us to test.
” Even though there is no evidence thathis company’s hosier y contains lead, his company will be forced to pay more than $500,00o0 on lead testing during the next McCubbin said. Hosiery isn’gt likely to be ingested or inhaled, so lead wouldn’tf pose a health hazard even if it were he added. Textiles should be exempted from the leadtesting requirement, he For Swimways Corp., a Virginia Beach, Va.-based manufacturer of wate r products, the problem isn’t lead, it’a phthalates — compounds often used to softenh vinyl.
The law banned the sale of children’xs products that contained even if the parts containing phthalates are not Because the law made the new phthalatedsstandard retroactive, Swimways was stuck with inventory it couldn’g sell. Retailers returned or destroyed Swimways merchandise and chargeed Swimways forthe expense. The law cost the 70-employes company more than $1 million, said Anthony vice president andgeneral counsel. The law could cost creators of handmade itemstheir businesses, two home-based crafters testified. Laurel Schreiber, ownedr of Lucy’s Pocket in Allison Park, Pa., makesx monogrammed gifts for children, such as and an appliqued bib andbloomer set.
Even though most of the materiald she uses in her products have been tester for leador phthalates, the law would requirw her to test each individual item. This woulc cost her $300 to $1,274 for products that sell for $5 to $20, Schreibe r said. Suzanne Lang, owner of Starbright Baby Teethin g Giraffesin Boalsburg, Pa., created 36 patterns of giraffexs last year. To test each of thess items for lead and phthalates would cost as muchas $81,000, she She grossed only $4,500 last Unless the law is changed, “thousandas of small businesses and crafters will be put out of business in this alreadty tough economic climate,” Lang said. Rep. Jasonh Altmire, D-Pa.
, chairman of the Housde Small Business Committee panel that heldthe hearing, pledge d to work on a solution to the law’s “This is just the first he said. But Altmirw blamed “ineffective leadership” at the Consumerd Product Safety Commissionand “the vaguenesss of important CPSC guidelines” for most of the He hopes new leadershiop and a bigger budget for the agench “will lead to a smoother transition to these new
Congress passed the Consumer Products Safetg Improvement Act in August 2008 in response to the discoveryu of high lead content in toys imported from But U.S. businesses contend the law has made it impossiblse for them to sell products that pose no healtyh threatto children. Manufacturers complain the law’s requirements to test and certify children’s products for lead and phthalatesw — and attach permanent trackintglabels — are unreasonable and too costly for many smal businesses.
Supporters of the legislation contend that the has done a poor job of providing guidance to businesses on how to comply with the They also maintain the commission has the authority to excludse certain classes of products fromthe law’xs requirements if they don’f pose a health But Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, testified at a May 14 House hearing that the agency is “hamstrung by the law’s sweeping reach and inflexibility.” The commission has “noyt yet been able to identify any products that would meet the law’zs requirements for exclusions,” she On Jan.
30, the commissionj did issue a one-year stay of enforcementt for the law’s testing and certification requirements. “I t was very clear peoplw were not ready to meet the Nord said. But this stay of enforcement did not relievr manufacturers or retailers of the underlyinb legal liability for selling products that did not meetthe law’xs lower lead and phthalate which went into effect Feb. 10. “According to the retailingb community, the stay changes nothing,” said Davidc McCubbin, a partner in McCubbin Hosiery, an Oklahomza City manufacturer. “Retailers continue to ask us to test.
” Even though there is no evidence thathis company’s hosier y contains lead, his company will be forced to pay more than $500,00o0 on lead testing during the next McCubbin said. Hosiery isn’gt likely to be ingested or inhaled, so lead wouldn’tf pose a health hazard even if it were he added. Textiles should be exempted from the leadtesting requirement, he For Swimways Corp., a Virginia Beach, Va.-based manufacturer of wate r products, the problem isn’t lead, it’a phthalates — compounds often used to softenh vinyl.
The law banned the sale of children’xs products that contained even if the parts containing phthalates are not Because the law made the new phthalatedsstandard retroactive, Swimways was stuck with inventory it couldn’g sell. Retailers returned or destroyed Swimways merchandise and chargeed Swimways forthe expense. The law cost the 70-employes company more than $1 million, said Anthony vice president andgeneral counsel. The law could cost creators of handmade itemstheir businesses, two home-based crafters testified. Laurel Schreiber, ownedr of Lucy’s Pocket in Allison Park, Pa., makesx monogrammed gifts for children, such as and an appliqued bib andbloomer set.
Even though most of the materiald she uses in her products have been tester for leador phthalates, the law would requirw her to test each individual item. This woulc cost her $300 to $1,274 for products that sell for $5 to $20, Schreibe r said. Suzanne Lang, owner of Starbright Baby Teethin g Giraffesin Boalsburg, Pa., created 36 patterns of giraffexs last year. To test each of thess items for lead and phthalates would cost as muchas $81,000, she She grossed only $4,500 last Unless the law is changed, “thousandas of small businesses and crafters will be put out of business in this alreadty tough economic climate,” Lang said. Rep. Jasonh Altmire, D-Pa.
, chairman of the Housde Small Business Committee panel that heldthe hearing, pledge d to work on a solution to the law’s “This is just the first he said. But Altmirw blamed “ineffective leadership” at the Consumerd Product Safety Commissionand “the vaguenesss of important CPSC guidelines” for most of the He hopes new leadershiop and a bigger budget for the agench “will lead to a smoother transition to these new
Monday, March 5, 2012
House committee chairwoman criticizes SBA
hundleyobajoji1908.blogspot.com
The SBA recently announced that it temporarily will allow auto dealers to useits 7(a) business loan program to finance vehicle inventory. Many lenderas had stopped makingthesd so-called floorplan loans to auto Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairsa the House Small Business Committee, feards “there is a significantly higher risk of loan on these floorplan This could force the SBA to increasde the subsidy ratefor 7(a) which would make the loanxs costlier for future borrowers. In a June 2 letter to SBA administratofrKaren Mills, Velazquez noted the SBA had “lony prohibited the use of its financing programs for the purpose of wholesale lending, and for good reason.
Because lenders are limiteed in their ability to exercise full control over thefinanced items, the exposure to loss in floorplan loand is greater than in other types of Vehicles serve as collateral for floorplanj loans, and the value of this collateral “wil l depreciate rapidly” given the glut of inventoryh facing automakers in the wake of the bankruptchy reorganizations of and , Velazquez “While clearly there is a need to providee this industry with transitional assistance, doing so by focusingg on inherently risky financial arrangements seems she wrote.
“The potentially negativd impacts of this policu change are likely to extend well beyond the auto ButTony Wilkinson, president and CEO of the , said the floorplanh loans shouldn’t be any riskier than othe r types of 7(a) loans if lenders administer the loans “I think it’s appropriate for the SBA to look at everything they can do for all small businesses right now, given smalp businesses’ inability to access credit,” Wilkinsonm said. Velazquez also contended the time the agency spenyt on developing a complex new loan program shoulde have been spent on implementing overduse programs called for in the economicstimulus bill.
The floorplan loans will help onlya “very limitedc group” of small businesses, she noted. Had the SBA instead focusedx more on thestimulus “thousands of small businesses that can no longed wait for help wouldc have seen assistance,” Velazquez wrote.
The SBA recently announced that it temporarily will allow auto dealers to useits 7(a) business loan program to finance vehicle inventory. Many lenderas had stopped makingthesd so-called floorplan loans to auto Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairsa the House Small Business Committee, feards “there is a significantly higher risk of loan on these floorplan This could force the SBA to increasde the subsidy ratefor 7(a) which would make the loanxs costlier for future borrowers. In a June 2 letter to SBA administratofrKaren Mills, Velazquez noted the SBA had “lony prohibited the use of its financing programs for the purpose of wholesale lending, and for good reason.
Because lenders are limiteed in their ability to exercise full control over thefinanced items, the exposure to loss in floorplan loand is greater than in other types of Vehicles serve as collateral for floorplanj loans, and the value of this collateral “wil l depreciate rapidly” given the glut of inventoryh facing automakers in the wake of the bankruptchy reorganizations of and , Velazquez “While clearly there is a need to providee this industry with transitional assistance, doing so by focusingg on inherently risky financial arrangements seems she wrote.
“The potentially negativd impacts of this policu change are likely to extend well beyond the auto ButTony Wilkinson, president and CEO of the , said the floorplanh loans shouldn’t be any riskier than othe r types of 7(a) loans if lenders administer the loans “I think it’s appropriate for the SBA to look at everything they can do for all small businesses right now, given smalp businesses’ inability to access credit,” Wilkinsonm said. Velazquez also contended the time the agency spenyt on developing a complex new loan program shoulde have been spent on implementing overduse programs called for in the economicstimulus bill.
The floorplan loans will help onlya “very limitedc group” of small businesses, she noted. Had the SBA instead focusedx more on thestimulus “thousands of small businesses that can no longed wait for help wouldc have seen assistance,” Velazquez wrote.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Intelligrated to acquire FKI Logistex - Business Courier of Cincinnati:
grigoriynirim.blogspot.com
Under the agreement, Cincinnati-based Intelligrated will purchaseFKI Logistex’a North American and South American operations from its parent, United Kingdom-based plc, accordiny to a news release. Terms of the deal weren’t Intelligrated will maintain its headquartersin Mason, accordingb to the release. It also has operations in Ohio; Alpharetta, Ga.; Somerset, N.J.; Flower Texas; and Woodridge, Ill. With the acquisitio of St. Louis-based FKI, it will have facilities in 10 as well as Canada and according tothe release.
“This agreement signalse a new era forus all, bringingg together our respective resources, technologies and expertise, becoming the leadint single-point provider of automated material handlinyg solutions,” said Stephen Ackerman, FKI in the release. Ackerman will take an unspecified senior positionwith Intelligrated. Locally, FKI has office and a support center on International Boulevard inButler County. Intelligratec is owned by San Francisco-based alonfg with and its management.
Under the agreement, Cincinnati-based Intelligrated will purchaseFKI Logistex’a North American and South American operations from its parent, United Kingdom-based plc, accordiny to a news release. Terms of the deal weren’t Intelligrated will maintain its headquartersin Mason, accordingb to the release. It also has operations in Ohio; Alpharetta, Ga.; Somerset, N.J.; Flower Texas; and Woodridge, Ill. With the acquisitio of St. Louis-based FKI, it will have facilities in 10 as well as Canada and according tothe release.
“This agreement signalse a new era forus all, bringingg together our respective resources, technologies and expertise, becoming the leadint single-point provider of automated material handlinyg solutions,” said Stephen Ackerman, FKI in the release. Ackerman will take an unspecified senior positionwith Intelligrated. Locally, FKI has office and a support center on International Boulevard inButler County. Intelligratec is owned by San Francisco-based alonfg with and its management.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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