QUOTE OF THE DAY “You’re either moving ahead and you’re improving and you’re making it more valuable and more useful to the customer or you’re not.” Alan Mulally Ford Motor Co. chief executive officer, on development of the new F-150 pickup Article, 1D Wal-Mart’s Simon joins retailers board
The National Retail Federation said Monday that Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart U.S., has been elected as one of six new members of the federation’s board of directors.
“The board of directors represents the diverse cross section of the retail industry,” and this is the first time anyone from Wal-Mart has been involved, said Stephen Schatz, the National Retail Federation’s senior director for media relations. The group bills itself as the world’s largest retail trade association.
Other new board members include Beall’s CEO Steve Knopik; J.C. Penney Co. CEO Mdyron Ullman; Lori Mitchell-Keller, SAP AG senior vice president and head of the global retail industry business unit; Tractor Supply Co.
President and CEO Greg Sandfort; and Utah Retail Merchants Association President Dave Davis. Each member serves a three-year term.
Teamsters ratify UPS Freight contract
UPS Freight and the Teamsters union agreed to a five-year contract that will increase pay, improve pension benefits and change how the company handles subcontracting.
The new deal was announced Monday by the Teamsters, whose UPS Freight employees voted 5,222-2,107 in favor of ratification. More than 13,000 employees will be covered by the agreement, which raises wages $2.50 an hour over the next five years.
An earlier version of the contract was rejected in June by 70 percent of UPS Freight’s union employees.
Ken Hall, Teamsters general secretary-treasurer and Package Division director, called the deal an “industry-leading contract” in a news release.
Teamsters at Arkansas Best ratified a five-year contract in October that is expected to save the company as much as $65 million annually through changes including wage and pension cuts. YRC Worldwide Inc. of Overland Park, Kan., and the Teamsters are in the midst of contract negotiations after union employees rejected a proposal last week.
Tyson gives trailer to veterans group
A group of military veterans who provide relief after natural disasters was provided with a bit of relief of its own on Monday when Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc.
donated a trailer that will be converted into a mobile command center.
For four years, Los Angeles-based Team Rubicon has worked out of pickups and old school buses when responding to natural disasters, but now it will have a mobile command center available for use for up to six disasters a year.
“We have been blessed and we have a responsibility to give back, and finding the right affiliations both on a national and regional basis is something we try to do,” said John H. Tyson, chairman of the board. “Team Rubicon started on the West Coast and East Coast and we’re in the Midwest, so if you think about it complementing assets it really brings the whole thing together.”
The 53-foot trailer will have an office, bunk space and storage. The trailer will be stored on Tyson property and will be driven by Tyson employees when it’s needed.
Workers to bid on Philadelphia papers
PHILADELPHIA - Workers at Philadelphia’s two largest newspapers plan to mount a bid to buy their company from feuding owners.
The Newspaper Guild would join with an unnamed partner to bid on The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com.
The guild has about 550 workers at the company. Their lawyers filed papers Monday seeking to intervene in a proposed auction.
They would likely compete with powerful millionaire owners who want to dissolve their partnership and force each other out. They are George Norcross, an insurance executive and Democratic political force, and Lewis Katz, the former owner of the New Jersey Nets. Both are expected to mount competing bids if a judge agrees to an auction.
The company has changed hands repeatedly in recent years, and sold for about $55 million in 2012.
Dubai shipyard to build $730 million rig
Drydocks World LLC, the Middle East’s biggest shipyard, agreed to build a $730 million oil rig for use in the North Sea as energy producers extend the search for reserves into harder-to-reach and more hostile areas.
Drydocks, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, signed an accord with Drill One Capital to construct the Dubai Expo 2020 NS, which will be the world’s largest jack-up rig, Chairman Khamis Juma Buamim said Monday. The apparatus, to be delivered in 2017, will show “DDW’s capability to build world-first mega projects,” Drydocks said.
Oil and gas producers are looking for specialized equipment to tap more oil from dwindling North Sea resources, while moving into deeper and more remote exploration blocks to counter output declines.
Volkswagen to put $7 billion in N. America
Volkswagen AG plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years in North America to revive its push to grab a bigger share of the U.S. car market.
As part of the spending, Europe’s largest carmaker will introduce a midsize sport utility vehicle designed specifically for North America in 2016, the Wolfsburg, Germanybased company said Monday in a statement. Volkswagen will also start producing the Golf hatchback today at its factory in Puebla, Mexico, to supply U.S. customers.
The German manufacturer stuck to its goal to increase sales of Volkswagen and Audi vehicles to 1 million cars and SUVs in the U.S. by 2018, equivalent to 77 percent more than last year’s 565,800. Volkswagen has struggled to gain traction in the country. Demand for its namesake brand fell 6.9 percent to 407,700 autos last year on declining demand for the U.S. version of the Passat. Audi’s sales rose 13 percent to 158,100.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 24 on 01/14/2014