BUSINESS BRIEFS: Pay cut vote extended

NATION

NEW YORK — The deadline for a vote to lock in an immediate 10 percent pay cut and other contract modifications for union workers at YRC Worldwide Inc., one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, has been extended by a week, the company said Monday.

Ballots were to be counted by today, but the company said it pushed the deadline to Jan. 6 because of several factors.

DETROIT — Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has sold his remaining shares in Ford Motor Co., according to a spokeswoman for his investment company Tracinda Corp. Kerkorian’s jettisoning of Ford comes just six months after Tracinda boosted its stake in the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker to 6.49 percent.

DETROIT— An agreement has been reached in a dispute over wetlands and development in a Michigan case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Developer John Rapanos and other defendants agreed Monday to pay a $150,000 penalty. The deal also requires him to create wetlands and buffer areas to make up for areas that were filled in. Rapanos was accused of filling in wetlands in mid-Michigan to build homes and a shopping center.

ATLANTA — Northwest Airlines, because of poor market conditions in light of the weakened global economy, is the latest carrier seeking to delay or cut back long-coveted U.S.-China service. The subsidiary of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. said in a filing earlier this month with the Transportation Department that it was seeking to delay proposed daily Seattle-

Beijing service by a year to March 2010 and delay startup of

Detroit-Shanghai nonstop service by more than two months from March 25 to June 3.

WASHINGTON — A trio of private investors — J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management and Paulson & Co. — have teamed up in an effort to buy failed thrift IndyMac, a person familiar with the deal said Monday. The two private-equity firms and hedge-fund Paulson have applied for a federal holding company charter, according to the person, who asked not to be named because the deal has not been completed. The investors want to convert IndyMac Federal Bank to a stock-held institution.

WORLD

SHANGHAI, China — U.S. car parts maker Delphi Corp. has suspended work at a factory in Suzhou because of shrinking demand amid the global economic slump, a media report and a staff member said Monday. The factory west of Shanghai in the city of Suzhou makes compressors for General Motors Corp. Calls to the plant rang unanswered Monday.

LONDON — British clothing company USC filed for a form of bankruptcy protection Monday, as the economic downturn claimed another major UK retailer. Edinburgh, Scotland-based USC, a retailer that sells clothing brands such as Diesel, Lacoste and Ted Baker in Britain, went into administration, said PKF, the company’s administrator. Meanwhile, British children’s clothing retailer Adams Childrenswear Ltd. is seeking bankruptcy protection. The 75-year-old central England-based concern was expected to be placed in the hands of administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers later Monday, spokeswoman Ginette Gisborne said. PricewaterhouseCoopers declined to comment.

MOSCOW — Russia’s Central Bank on Monday allowed its plummeting currency to drop further on the last day of trading before the long New Year’s holiday, ending a roller-coaster year for the ruble on a historic low. The ruble slid 1.5 percent on the MICEX foreign currency exchange, to close at 34.9 rubles against the Central Bank’s euro-dollar basket. It hit 29.2 against the dollar — a level that hasn’t been seen since 2005 — and 41.7 against the euro — an all-time low.

From Wire Reports

---

Leave a Comment

Business Photo Galleriesview all