|
August, 2004 |
| |
|
|||
|
||||
|
World Trends |
|
DaimlerChrysler Clinches Cost-saving Deal DaimlerChrysler reached a cost-saving deal with its German workers on July 23 in return for job security guarantees after contentious talks marked by a week of protests and brief work stoppages, reports AP. The deal involves Euro 500 million (US$ 612 million) in annual labor cost savings in return for securing the jobs of more than 6,000 German workers until 2012, DaimlerChrysler chief executive Juergen Schrempp and chief work representative Erich Klemm told reporters. Management will also “make a contribution” to the cost savings, Schrempp said, without immediately giving details. He called the deal a “good solution.” DaimlerChrysler had threatened to move production of its Mercedes C-Class cars away from its factory in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, unless workers agreed to Euro 500 million in labour cost cuts. Earlier, employee representatives had offered some Euro 200 million (US$ 245 million) in savings, mostly through giving up a pay rise. A main sticking point had been employee demands that the company guarantee jobs for longer than four or five years. The company says the Sindelfingen workers have perks such as five minutes of accumulated paid break time per hour and higher premiums for late shift than workers at German plants elsewhere. It has threatened to move the C-Class work to plants in Bremen, Germany, and East London, South Africa, where costs are lower – a move that would wipe out 6,000 jobs at Sindelfingen. Employees had been holding out for more than a guarantee the company won’t move production of the Mercedes C-Class to cheaper plants in 2007. They are seeking to lock in work for the longer term. Tens of thousands of DaimlerChrysler workers across the country have staged protests, which they had said would escalate if no agreement could be reached. DaimlerChrysler has been pressing for cost cuts at its luxury Mercedes division, an earnings mainstay for the past several years, as it comes under increasing sales pressure from a slew of new models from German competitor BMW. Other big German industrial firms have been pressing for similar concessions. Engineering giant Siemens AG achieved what is widely viewed as a groundbreaking deal by getting workers at phone repair facilities in northern Germany to work 40 hours rather that 35 for no added pay. The 35-hour week was won through a 1984 strike by the industrial union IG Metall, and union leaders have been highly critical of proposal to give it up. MS Settles Case with Lindows Microsoft Corp has settled all its trademark infringement suits against Lindows Inc with $20 million payment to the Linux operating system upstart, which agreed to change its name to Linspire, reports Reuters. In a statement, the companies said the settlement ends a spate of litigation in the United States and abroad. “We are pleased that Lindows will now compete in the market place with a name distinctly its own,” said Tom Burt, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel. Lindows chief executive Michael Robertson said the terms “make business sense for all parties.” Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, sued San Diego based Lindows in 2001 in US District Court at Seattle alleging the name infringed on its trademark for the ubiquitous Windows operating system. Microsoft then filed similar complaints in Europe and Canada. It won preliminary injunctions in the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, before quietly settling the Dutch case. In addition to the US litigation, cases were pending in France, Spain and Canada. In April, Lindows changed the name of its products to Linspire after US District Judge John Coughenour refused to halt the trademark infringement cases outside the Unites States. But the company had until now stuck with Lindows as a corporate name. Lindows makes a computer operating system that competes with Windows but is based on the Linux operating system. |
|
Cover Story
| Editorial | Business News | Biztoon |
Sectoral
| Political | No
Laughing Matters | SME Focus | Corporate
Focus | Tourism |
Economy & Policy | Young
Achiever | Marketing | Stock Taking | Interview | World Trends |
|
Send your feedback to the editor: bizline@mos.com.np |
