Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993                   TAG: 9309010091
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

GENEVA - Recovery from world recession will be hampered - even reversed - unless a comprehensive free trade accord is wrapped up by December, the head of the main world trade organization said Tuesday.

The warning by Peter Sutherland, director-general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, was his sternest yet about ending the long-delayed Uruguay Round of trade negotiations.

"Mushrooming trade disputes and deep antagonisms between regional blocs would foreshadow serious damage to the world economy," he said. "The process of economic recovery . . . might well be reversed." - Associated Press

Opposition to NAFTA called overwhelming

WASHINGTON - AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland Tuesday ruled out any compromise with the White House over the North American Free Trade Agreement and warned that labor would "go for broke" to defeat the treaty in Congress.

Democratic leaders in the House predict overwhelming opposition to the treaty. Majority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., said last weekend that as many as three-fourths of the House members may vote against the treaty.

Opposition to the treaty has been led by organized labor, which fears massive job losses to Mexico, and by a coalition of environmental groups that fear a shift in production to Mexico, where environmental standards are weak.

NAFTA would remove most trade barriers among the United States, Canada and Mexico. - Washington Post

Briefly . . .

\ A vinyl drawer manufacturer plans to build a $3.5 million plant in Halifax County, the county's industrial development authority announced. BHK of America Inc. will construct the 56,800-square-foot plant. Employment is expected to reach 40 in the first year and 80 after two years, with potential for further expansion.

\ The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, charged Tuesday that Allstate Insurance Co. systematically refuses to insure homes in poor or minority neighborhoods and called on regulators in 15 states to investigate. The group said its 17-city review found the insurer clusters its offices in the suburbs to discourage inner-city homeowners from seeking policies and quotes higher rates for inner-city homes than suburban ones.

\ Three major U.S. airlines are among the six safest in the world, an airline passenger group said Tuesday. The International Airline Passengers Association listed the safest of the biggest airlines as American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Southwest Airlines.