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Ford: deal puts labor costs on equal footing

By Times Wires
Published November 16, 2007

DETROIT

Ford Motor Co.'s new contract with the United Auto Workers has nearly eliminated a $30-per-hour labor cost gap with Japanese competitors, setting up the automaker to roll out more new products and return to profitability, Ford said Thursday. Marty Mulloy, the company's vice president for labor affairs, said shifting Ford's long-term retiree health care costs to a union-run trust and a new lower-tier wage scale will remove much of the gap. The union announced Wednesday that Ford's 54,000 UAW workers overwhelmingly ratified the contract, reached Nov. 3 after a marathon bargaining session.

WASHINGTON

Another big jump in consumer prices

Consumer inflation posted another elevated reading in October as energy prices shot up by the fastest pace in five months. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent last month, the second straight month with inflation at that level. The acceleration was occurring because of another jump in energy prices and continued increases in food costs. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, continued to rise at a more moderate rate, rising by 0.2 percent in October, the fifth straight month at that level.

HOUSTON

Judge: Feds can pursue Lay's $13M

A judge has ruled the federal government can proceed with its attempt to seize nearly $13-million from the estate of former Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein rejected a request from Lay's widow to halt the government's bid for the money, which prosecutors claim were "proceeds of the fraud proven in the criminal case against Lay." Lay had been convicted in May 2006 of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases. A judge ruled last fall that Lay's death in July 2006 vacated his convictions because Lay couldn't challenge them. But Werlein wrote in his ruling Wednesday that prosecutors had "ample allegations" of criminal activity tied to the cash and property to pursue their civil forfeiture case.

TAMPA BAY AREA

Bright House promotes Wiser

Eliott Wiser, who for three years has served as a vice president for Bright House Networks while running the local 24-hour cable news channel Bay News 9 as its general manager, has been promoted to group vice president of local programming for Bright House Networks. It's a full-time job supervising the company's 11 on-demand and local news channels in the Tampa Bay area and Orlando. Wiser, who will remain in the Tampa Bay area at Catch 47's Pinellas Park headquarters, hopes to name a successor as Bay News 9's general manager in the first quarter of 2008.

[Last modified November 16, 2007, 01:05:01]