Women target Labor Ready in discrimination lawsuit
The Tacoma company and International Aluminum used the code words "big hands" in daily phone calls to indicate only men should be hired for jobs at a South Gate, Calif., plant during a five-month strike, the women said in their suit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
About 300 women are seeking class-action status for a job-bias suit that demands compensation for lost wages and damages to punish the companies. The workers also want an order prohibiting future misconduct.
Monterey Park, Calif.-based International Aluminum hasn't seen the suit yet and declined comment, said President David Treinen.
A spokeswoman for Labor Ready didn't return a call for comment.
Aerospace-focused Esterline to sell automation divisions
SAN FRANCISCO — Esterline Technologies said yesterday it would sell its automation divisions at a loss to focus on the aerospace and defense markets.
The Bellevue company said it would take a $23 million charge, net of taxes, in its third quarter ended July 26 to reflect losses from the sale and operations.
The units make heavy steel plate and equipment for printed circuit-board manufacturing.
The sales would boost operating earnings, since Esterline will reclassify the money-losing operations as discontinued units. Earnings per share for the year, from continuing operations, would be $1.30 to $1.40 rather than the previously forecast $1 to $1.10, it said.
Weyerhaeuser to trim back in Kentucky, cut 142 jobs
FEDERAL WAY — Weyerhaeuser will close a cardboard-corrugating machine in Kentucky and eliminate 142 jobs, or less than 1 percent of its work force, to consolidate work after its purchase of Willamette Industries.
The machine in Hawesville will be turned off in the next 60 days, eliminating 200,000 tons of capacity, the company said.
The closing follows the shutdown of a corrugating machine in Plymouth, N.C., announced in May, which reduced capacity by 215,000 tons.
Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser said last month it would eliminate 206 jobs and close plants in Colorado, Louisiana and Oregon following the purchase of Portland-based Willamette. Weyerhaeuser has been closing plants as demand for paper used to produce boxes, magazines and books has declined with the slumping economy.
Alcoa will shut Oregon plant, make other reductions
NEW YORK — Alcoa, the world's No. 1 aluminum producer, said yesterday it would idle or eliminate production at an Oregon plant and two other facilities because of high energy and labor costs.
Aluminum prices have been battered by excess capacity and soft demand for the past 18 months, exacerbated by weakness in airline manufacturing following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Alcoa will close and dismantle its mothballed plant in Troutdale, Ore., and the idled portion of its Rockdale, Texas, unit.
It will temporarily curtail output at its aluminum plant in Badin, N.C.
Nation/World
Qwest bonds rise after CNBC says Buffett's buying them
NEW YORK — Qwest's bonds rose yesterday after CNBC reported billionaire investor Warren Buffett has been buying debt of the Denver telephone company.
Qwest's 7.25 percent coupon notes maturing in 2011 rose 2.5 cents to 39 cents on the dollar, traders said. The company's shares closed down a penny to $1.28 on the New York Stock Exchange, after rising as high as $1.60 shortly after the report.
Berkshire Hathaway Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg declined to comment, saying the company does not discuss its investment portfolio.
Qwest spokesman Steve Hammack said he couldn't confirm or deny the report "because I don't know."
Earlier this month, Buffett invested $100 million in another telecommunications concern — fiber-optic network operator Level 3 Communications.
WorldCom, Cingular Wireless reach tentative settlement
NEW YORK — WorldCom, in the midst of the biggest bankruptcy case in U.S. history, reached a tentative settlement with Cingular Wireless in a dispute over 300,000 mobile-phone users who subscribe to a WorldCom-brand version of Cingular's cellular service.
The agreement, submitted in bankruptcy court yesterday, calls for the transfer of those WorldCom accounts to Cingular's control for an undisclosed amount.
In announcing the settlement, WorldCom confirmed it has reached similar agreements with most of the big cellular companies that provide the wireless signal for its WorldCom-branded mobile service.
All of WorldCom's wireless subscribers should receive a letter soon notifying them their accounts and cellphone numbers will be handed to a new service provider at the end of September, the company said.
WorldCom does not own a wireless network and provides cellular service by leasing capacity from other companies.
Adobe Systems' stock drops after lower earnings forecast
SAN FRANCISCO — Adobe Systems, the largest maker of software for publishing and graphic design, reduced forecasts for third-quarter sales and profit as customers cut back on advertising-related spending.
Adobe shares fell nearly 23 percent yesterday in after-hours trading.
Sales in the current quarter will be $270 million to $290 million with profit of 18 cents to 23 cents a share, excluding certain costs, Adobe said. A year earlier, it had sales of $292.1 million and profit of 28 cents on that basis.
Adobe shares fell 98 cents to $23.96 in regular trading. They were at $19.23 toward the end of after-hours trading.
This will be the fifth straight quarterly decline in Adobe's sales as a drop in spending on advertising has hurt agencies that use the company's design software. San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe, with about 500 workers in Seattle, said sales were particularly weak in Japan and Europe.
"This was a big hit. It means they were banking on a lot of international sales," said Shneur Gershuni, an analyst in Toronto with Bissett Multinational Growth Fund, which owns Adobe shares. "They're supposed to be getting big sales now, and that's not happening."
Compiled from The Associated Press and Bloomberg News.