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HAWAII
First Insurance buys HMSA policy rights

First Insurance Company of Hawaii has purchased policy renewal rights from two Hawaii Medical Service Association subsidiaries that will provide access to more than 3,000 workers' compensation policies statewide.

As the policies from WorkComp Hawaii and WorkComp Select expire in the next year, employers will be able to renew with First Insurance, potentially expanding the company's reach into the small business sector.

First Insurance, the largest property and casualty insurer that is based in Hawaii, has more than $483 million in assets and $324 million in liabilities.

WorkComp Hawaii entered the market in 1996, partly to serve small- to medium-sized businesses that had few affordable options.

"The market has expanded over the past nine years with many more choices now available to employers," said Michael Cheng, president of WorkComp Hawaii. "As a result, we have decided that the time is right for us to transition out of the business."

Employers desperate for workers

Struggling to find workers in a tight labor market, companies are expected to turn out in record numbers at a job fair Tuesday at the Neal Blaisdell Center, officials said.

Recruiters from 170 businesses, organizations and government agencies will accept applications at the WorkForce Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mayor Mufi Hannemann is to appear at the fair.

Last year's event attracted 4,800 job seekers and more are expected this year.

General admission is $2, while students with valid identification can get in for $1. For more information, call 536-7222 or visit www.successhi.com.

NATION
United Air avoids strike, for now

CHICAGO » United Airlines dodged the immediate threat of a strike yesterday when a bankruptcy judge put off until May 31 a ruling on the carrier's bid to force a new contract on its machinists union, giving the two sides more time to negotiate an agreement.

Judge Eugene Wedoff's decision came with United still deadlocked with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers over a proposed five-year contract despite three days of intensive bargaining.

Negotiators met through the night at a hotel outside Chicago in an unsuccessful effort to reach a deal before yesterday's conclusion of a one-week trial on the contract issue, then waited tensely for a ruling that could have triggered a strike by day's end.

The IAM said its nearly 20,000 baggage handlers, public-contact employees and other ground workers were poised to shut down the airline if the judge ruled the contract could be broken.

WORLD
China plans to raise tariffs

BEIJING » China announced new tariffs yesterday that it hopes will hold down surging textile exports, trying to avert a trade war with the United States and Europe after Washington imposed import quotas.

Beijing took the step despite accusing Washington of treating China unfairly and saying earlier U.S. and European market barriers were to blame for the surge in Chinese textile imports after a worldwide quota system expired on Jan. 1.

The new measure takes effect June 1 and will raise tariffs on 74 types of goods by up to 400 percent, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It didn't give details, but said China now charges tariffs of 2 to 4 percent on 148 categories of textile and clothing exports. That would mean the new tariffs could range from 10 to 20 percent.