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

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310290151
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SOAP-PAD MAKER FINED $4.5 MILLION IN PRICE-FIXING

The nation's leading maker of steel wool soap pads has agreed to plead guilty to price-fixing and pay a $4.5 million fine, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Pittsburgh-based Miles Inc., maker of SOS pads, schemed with its only major competitor - the maker of Brillo pads - to coordinate price increases and discounts, the department said.

Brillo pads are made by Dial Corp. of Phoenix. The Justice Department says executives from Miles and Dial met and spoke by telephone throughout last year to set prices.

Dial came forward with information about the deal, so it was exempted from prosecution under a corporate amnesty program, department officials said.

Both Dial and Miles cooperated with the investigation, said Assistant Attorney General Anne K. Bingaman, head of the department's Antitrust Division.

"We've accepted responsibility for the actions of our employees," said Miles spokeswoman Barbara Owens. - Associated Press

by CNB