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POSTED: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Fixes progress on recalled Toyotas

About 40 percent of Hawaii Toyotas covered by the recent sticky gas pedal recall have been repaired, Servco Pacific Inc. has announced.

More than 3,000 of 8,000 affected vehicles have been serviced to correct the potential problem, at a rate of as many as 200 a day.

“;We are grateful our customers responded quickly to our calls to schedule appointments,”; said Mark Fukunaga, chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Toyota dealerships statewide extended service hours, so “;we were also able to repair new vehicles that were still in dealers' inventory,”; enabling the vehicles to return to sales floors, he said.

Meanwhile, Toyota is investigating complaints about steering problems in some 2009 and 2010 Corollas with 1.8-liter engines. There have been no complaints in Hawaii, according to Servco.

 

Pacific Beach settlement talks falter

Pacific Beach Hotel and the National Labor Relations Board will have to return to court for more settlement talks.

The hotel and the NLRB met with federal Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi yesterday to see whether resolution could be reached, but both parties failed to come to an agreement. Attorneys for the parties are expected to return to Kobayashi at the end of March to see whether progress can be made once U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright rules on the NLRB's request for a court injunction to force the hotel to comply with an earlier court ruling. The injunction hearing is slated for March 8.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge James Kennedy favored ILWU Local 142 in a ruling that addressed 3-year-old charges stemming from a lengthy battle between the hotel and the union over its right to represent workers. At the time, Kennedy found that the hotel had bargained in bad faith, illegally interrogated employees, refused to recognize the union and fired some union supporters and threatened others. He ordered the hotel to reinstate jobs for union negotiating committee members with back pay, reimburse the union for the cost of negotiations and bargain in good faith. However, Kennedy's demands were put on hold when the hotel filed an appeal.

 

Feds shut down 4 additional banks

WASHINGTON » Regulators shut four banks from California to Florida yesterday, boosting to 20 the number of U.S. bank failures this year following the 140 closures last year in the worst financial climate in decades.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over La Jolla Bank FSB in La Jolla, Calif.; George Washington Savings Bank in Orland Park, Ill.; Marco Community Bank on Marco Island in Florida; and La Coste National Bank in La Coste, Texas.

 

On the Move

; The Farmers Insurance Hawaii Family of Cos. has announced the following executive and management team promotions:
» Michele K. Saito to president from executive vice president and chief operating officer. She has served in various financial and senior management capacities with the company since 1984.
» Ann T. Nakagawa to executive vice president, chief administrative and financial officer, treasurer and assistant secretary from vice president and chief financial officer. She has more than 20 years' experience in the local insurance industry.
» Patrick R. Hartnett to senior vice president from vice president of claims. He has been building a claims department for the company for the past 20 years.
» Patti-Jo Day to vice president from assistant vice president and director of customer service. She has been director of marketing and consumer affairs for Bishop Museum.
» Maria Carvalho to assistant vice president of personal lines underwriting from director of personal lines underwriting. She joined the company 15 years ago as an underwriting supervisor.
» Kim Sato to assistant vice president and controller from financial accounting manager. Her experience includes working at First Hawaiian Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers.