Labor Relations
OSHA Proposes Fines After Death At Komatsu Plant
March 8, 2013 8:51 am | News | CommentsThe U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has charged Komatsu America Corp. with safety violations at its plant in Peoria and proposed an $82,000 fine in the death of an employee. Stanley Musgrave Jr. of Norwood died Aug. 24, 2012, after he was injured two days earlier at the plant.
Unemployment Falls To 7.7 Percent
March 8, 2013 8:42 am | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsU.S. employers ramped up hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. Stronger hiring shows businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.
Google Cutting 1,200 More Motorola Jobs
March 8, 2013 8:10 am | News | CommentsGoogle says it's cutting an additional 1,200 jobs in its Motorola division as the unprofitable cellphone maker struggles to compete. The latest reductions come on top of the 4,000 Motorola job cuts that Google Inc. announced last summer, and will be in countries including the U.S., China and India.
Italy Protests Bridgestone Tire Plant Closure
March 7, 2013 2:14 pm | News | CommentsItaly's labor minister is criticizing a decision by the Bridgestone tire company to close a plant in southern Italy as "serious and without reason." Corrado Passera protested in a letter to the Japanese company, released by the labor ministry Thursday, that the company had failed to work with authorities to find another solution.
Louisiana Lands Chemical Storage, Distribution Facility
March 7, 2013 11:14 am | News | CommentsLogistics service provider Katoen Natie plans to build a $150 million plastics storage and distribution facility in Baton Rouge that will support the area's chemical plants. The indoor storage and distribution complex is expected to create 210 new jobs.
Worker Productivity Falls In 4Q
March 7, 2013 8:48 am | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsThe Labor Department says productivity contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.9 percent in the October-December quarter. That's about the same as last month's estimate of a 2 percent decline. It followed a 3.1 percent gain in the July-September quarter.
Weekly Unemployment Claims Fall To 340,000
March 7, 2013 8:41 am | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsThe Labor Department says applications fell 7,000 in the week ended March 2. That's near five-year lows reached in January. And the four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped 7,000 to 348,750. That's the lowest since March 2008, just a few months into the Great Recession.
Clashes At Goodyear Protest Of Factory Closure
March 7, 2013 7:37 am | News | CommentsBurning the very fruit of their labor, workers from Goodyear clashed with police outside the tire-maker's French headquarters in a last-ditch attempt to save their jobs. Goodyear has been trying to restructure or close its plant in northern France for five years, saying tires made there no longer sell.
Survey Shows Steady Job Gains In February
March 6, 2013 2:32 pm | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsEmployers added 198,000 jobs in February, according to data released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP. And the survey revised January's hiring figures to show companies added 215,000 jobs that month, 23,000 more than what had initially been reported.
GM To Hire 1,000 For Tech Center Near Phoenix
March 6, 2013 2:18 pm | News | CommentsGeneral Motors says it will hire 1,000 workers to staff an information technology center in suburban Phoenix. It's the fourth and final center that GM will announce. The others are in Roswell, Georgia, near Atlanta; Warren, Mich., near Detroit; and in Austin, Texas.
FreightCar America Laying Off 254 In Ill.
March 6, 2013 11:45 am | News | CommentsFreightCar America Inc. has filed notice with the state of Illinois that it will lay off more than 250 people at its plant in Danville. The Chicago-based rail car manufacturer says in the notice published online by the state it will permanently lay off 254 employees at the plant between April 18 and May 2.
Germany To Fight Female Boardroom Quotas
March 6, 2013 8:48 am | News | CommentsThe plan proposed by European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding in November would require at least 40 percent of the non-executive directors of publicly traded European companies with more than 250 employees to be women by 2020. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says it's a national issue that Brussels shouldn't be involved in — a stance also taken by Britain.
Shell, BASF To Pay Workers Compensation
March 6, 2013 7:57 am | News | CommentsThe court says Tuesday on its website the companies agreed to a pay compensation of close to 180,000 reals ($90,000) to each of the 1,068 workers who were allegedly contaminated. They also agreed to provide workers with lifelong health plans valued at 200 million reals ($100 million).
French Unions Protest Loosening Of Labor Rules
March 5, 2013 2:07 pm | by Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press | News | CommentsMultinationals are shutting factories around France amid Europe's economic slowdown, with many complaining about the high cost of employing French workers. The French government is trying to stem job losses and turn the stagnant economy around with a new draft labor law.
Northrop Grumman To Bring 1,000 Jobs To Florida
March 5, 2013 11:39 am | News | CommentsNorthrop Grumman Corp. announced on Wednesday that it is going to add jobs at facilities in St. Augustine and Melbourne. The Melbourne facility will focus on aircraft design and will include work now being done at a facility in New York. The St. Augustine facility will also focus on aircraft design.
Study: No Quick Savings From Workplace Wellness
March 4, 2013 6:59 pm | by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe study has implications for a debate now taking place at companies around the country: how much pressure can you put on workers to quit smoking, lose weight, and get exercise before it turns into unwelcome meddling, or worse, a slippery slope toward a new kind of health discrimination?
Boeing Cuts Back On Contract Workers At SC Plant
March 1, 2013 9:34 am | by Bruce Smith, Associated Press | News | CommentsBoeing is trimming the number of temporary contract workers employed at its South Carolina assembly plant. The company says the reductions have been planned for some time and have nothing to do with battery problems in its 787 jetliners.
Growing Push To Halt Workplace Bullying
March 1, 2013 7:52 am | by Sam Hananel, Associated Press | News | CommentsWorkplace bullying can take many forms and a growing number of companies see it as a problem that can sap morale and lead to increased employee turnover. It could become the next major battleground in employment law as a growing number of states consider legislation that would let workers sue for on-the-job harassment that causes physical or emotional harm.
Chrysler To Add Jobs, Invest $374M In Indiana
February 28, 2013 1:26 pm | by Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsChrysler said Thursday it will invest nearly $400 million and create 1,250 new jobs at transmission and metal casting factories in the Kokomo, Indiana, area. CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed that Chrysler will spend $162 million and add 850 new jobs at a former Getrag Transmission plant in nearby Tipton.
Weekly Unemployment Aid Claims Drop To 344K
February 28, 2013 8:45 am | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsThe number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell 22,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 344,000, evidence that the job market may be picking up. The Labor Department says the four-week average of applications dropped 6,750 to 355,000, the first drop in three weeks.
CAT To Cut 1,400 Jobs In Belgium
February 28, 2013 8:31 am | News | CommentsIt says the facility is hampered by Europe's low growth prospects and labor costs that are so high that "it currently costs less to import machines to Europe from some other Caterpillar locations than to produce them in Gosselies." The Belgian plant produces hydraulic excavators, loading vehicles, engine parts and components.
Poland Emerging As Major European Outsourcing Hub
February 28, 2013 7:50 am | by Vanessa Gera, Associated Press | News | CommentsPoland's economy has grown for 21 years straight, while some Western European countries are trying to recover from their most crippling recession in generations. The result is a striking change in its infancy: a country whose poverty and political oppressiveness once drove its people abroad in droves is now attracting workers from the West.
Travelers Survey: Strong Growth Within U.S. Manufacturing
February 27, 2013 11:11 am | by The Travelers Companies, Inc | News | CommentsThis survey of 200 professionals in the manufacturing industry including general managers, directors, owners and partners from metals, food, and plastics manufacturers, confirms recent data stating that 2012 was a record year for manufacturing revenues, and reinforces the view that expectations for 2013 are positive.
W.Va. Cites 45 Violations After 2 Deaths At Mine
February 26, 2013 1:49 pm | by Vicki Smith, Associated Press | News | CommentsEdward Finney of Bluefield, Va., died at Pocahontas Coal's Affinity Mine near Sophia on Feb. 7, when he was pinned under a hoist he'd been moving trash into. Hoists are used to move miners and supplies between the surface and underground operations.
In Grim French North, Worker Unrest Looks To Last
February 26, 2013 8:11 am | News | CommentsWorkers at a dying French tire factory who've become the butt of American jokes are staging a day of last-ditch protests to try to save their jobs. The protests Tuesday at the Goodyear plant in the northern city of Amiens come after efforts to find a new buyer for the struggling plant have fizzled.
