Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Wednesday, May 20, 1998
Maryl workers to vote 2nd time on union
Workers at a Big Island construction company tomorrow will vote for the second time in two months on whether they want to be represented by a union.The results of the first election April 9 at Maryl Construction were set aside after the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 challenged 14 ballots.
The company, the union and the National Labor Relations Board subsequently agreed to a list of 24 workers who will be eligible for tomorrow's vote, a NLRB spokesman said.
Bank of New York withdraws Mellon bid
NEW YORK -- Bank of New York said today it was withdrawing its $21.8 billion buyout bid for Mellon Bank Corp., citing Mellon management's refusal to discuss the offer.Bank of New York had made an unsolicited offer to acquire the Pittsburgh-based banking company for stock on April 22, saying the combined company would be better able to compete in the rapidly consolidating financial services industry.
It said key Mellon shareholders had privately expressed overwhelming support for the proposed merger.
But Mellon rejected the offer, citing its desire to remain independent.
Bank of New York said Mellon had denied its request to meet with Mellon's full board to explain the merger proposal in detail and address issues raised in opposition to the bid.
Pact keeps commerce on Internet duty free
GENEVA -- Trade negotiators today agreed to keep commerce over the Internet free from duties over the next year as ministers from around the globe prepared to push for a world of open markets in the next century.The decision on electronic commerce, which could be extended or made permanent, was taken on the fringes of a three-day ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization ending later in the day.
Ministers from the WTO's 132 member states had already given the go-ahead to the duty-free accord, which they will approve formally together with an overall declaration on the future work of the trade body, key diplomats said.
Hurt by heavy debt, Nissan vows change
TOKYO -- Heavily in debt and slipping into the red, Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor today unveiled plans to heal its ailing balance sheet, only minutes after rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. announced record profits.Vowing to return to the ranks of the world's leading carmakers, Nissan President Yoshikazu Hanawa said his company would shift its focus squarely to profits instead of market share and straighten out the mess at its vital U.S. operations.
Nissan said it lost an estimated $102 million in the fiscal year to March 31, due largely to a loss six times that amount in the United States.
Hyundai plans 27% cut in work force
SEOUL -- After month-long talks with its labor union failed, Hyundai Motors Co. said today it will cut its 30,000-member work force by 8,200, or about 27 percent.The labor union immediately said it would strike South Korea's biggest car maker May 27.
About 40 union members began a sit-down protest in the lobby of Hyundai's headquarters in Ulsan, an industrial city 175 miles southeast of Seoul.
"We will fight layoffs by all means. If the management wants to lay off workers, it will also have to risk a shutdown of the whole plant," the union said in a statement.
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