Paomano camp families get break

Some Poamoho Camp residents, who had been facing eviction since 2004, when Del Monte announced it would not renew leases on the plantation land, may be able to buy their homes with financial aid from First Hawaiian Bank.

The bank has offered qualified residents the opportunity to buy their single-family homes for an average price of $120,000, less than half the current market value.

“;First Hawaiian Bank stepped up and made a critical loan when no one else would,”; said Peter Savio, owner of Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd., which specializes in affordable housing projects. “;Out of 66 families, 64 have indicated that they want to buy and 50 have secured loan approvals.”;

The bank provided financing and worked with Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the city on permits.

Average compensation rises for Honolulu jobs

Average compensation per job in Honolulu rose more than in the nation as a whole from 2007 to 2008, according to the latest report from the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Average compensation per job rose 3.7 percent to $57,020 in 2008 from $55,012 in 2007, the bureau reported yesterday. The average annual compensation per job in the U.S rose 2.6 percent to $56,116.

Compensation includes pay as well as employer contributions for government programs and for employee pension and insurance funds.

FHB awards $15,000 grant to Mutual Housing group

First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has awarded a $15,000 grant to the Mutual Housing Association of Hawaii.

The association, which owes and operates affordable rental housing complexes on Kauai and Oahu, will use the money to renovate its Learning Center at the Lihue Court Townhomes.

Last year, First Hawaiian contributed $3.5 million to more than 350 nonprofits.

Northrop Grumman earns $140.4M Pearl Harbor pact

Northrop Grumman Corp., a subsidiary of AMSEC LLC, has been awarded a five-year, $140.4 million contract to maintain, repair and modernize submarines at Pearl Harbor.

“;This award provides the U.S. Navy access to AMSEC subject matter experts and leverages our rich 28-year history of maintenance, repair and modernization and support to the fleet,”; said Harris Leonard, vice president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding and president, AMSEC Operations.

GM taps Microsoft CFO to manage its finances

DETROIT » General Motors Co. has hired the chief financial officer of Microsoft Corp. to take over the troubled automaker's books, tapping a cost-cutter who is now widely seen as a potential candidate to be GM's next CEO.

Chris Liddell will become GM's finance chief starting next year and report directly to interim CEO Ed Whitacre Jr., who also is a newcomer to the automaker. The 51-year-old Liddell is the first permanent top manager hired from outside the company since it left bankruptcy protection in July. Whitacre, who says he wants to shake up GM's slow and rigid culture, has pushed out top executives and promoted younger managers in recent weeks.

Ford offers retirement, buyouts to hourly workers

DETROIT » Ford Motor Co. has offered buyout or retirement incentive packages to all of its 41,000 U.S. hourly workers as it tries to further reduce its factory work force.

Ford, the healthiest of Detroit's three automakers and the only one to avoid government aid and bankruptcy protection, still has more workers than it needs to produce cars and trucks at current sales levels, said company spokesman Mark Truby.

He would not say how many workers Ford expects to take the packages, which include cash payments and other incentives such as vouchers to buy cars and short-term health insurance coverage.

Ford has 634 blue-collar workers on layoff in the U.S.

ON THE MOVE

Primo Brewing & Malting has announced two new hires:

» Robert Yackley as sales manager. He has more than 20 years of food/beverage and grocery experience including distributor sales manager with Miller Brewing Co. and director of retail sales for Pepsi Cola Bottling Group-Hawaii.

» Sara Garcia as on-premise manager. She was an on-premise sales representative with Anheuser-Busch and sales representative for Paradise Beverages.

KHON2 has announced new hires:

» Bill Gray as sales development manager. He has more than 30 years sales and marketing experience, including running his own consulting firm, marketing director at Lex Brodie's and general sales manager for several radio and television stations on the mainland.

» Michael Wong as account executive. He has more than 15 years of experience in sales including account manager at VRE Hawaii, general sales manager for Salem Communications and account manager for Oceanic Time Warner.

» Cherri Tuson as assistant business manager. She has more than 20 years of accounting experience, including accounting manager for Chuck Latham Associates and business manager for Reed Business Information.