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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994                   TAG: 9403180295
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

Hundreds of Healthtex employees returned to work Thursday following union ratification of a new three-year contract.

The first shift of workers reported at 7 a.m., said human resources manager Bill Smith.

The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union unanimously approved the contract during a meeting Wednesday night, said Dennis Jennings, a member of the union's executive board. About 400 workers voted for the contract.

The contract addresses job security and protects employees from work being sent out to subcontractors. The pact also provides an 8.5 percent wage increase for all employees over the three-year life of the contract, said Michael Zucker, a union spokesman.

Ratification of the contract ends a strike that started Monday. About 1,200 workers walked off their jobs at Healthtex's plants in Danville, Warrenton, Ga., and Centreville, Ala. Healthtex, based in Greensboro, N.C., produces children's apparel.

The strike was triggered when contract negotiations broke down after VF Corp., which owns Healthtex, submitted a proposal that did not include job protection language.

- Associated Press

Mortgages at highest rate in year

WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.76 percent this week, up from 7.63 percent last week and the highest in more than a year, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.

It was the highest level since mortgages averaged 7.80 percent during the week ended Feb. 5, 1993. It also was more than a percentage point above the 25-year low of 6.74 percent last October.

On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 4.60 percent, up from 4.51 percent last week and the highest since rates averaged 4.64 percent during the week ended last June 17. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.27 percent this week, up from 7.15 percent a week earlier.

- Associated Press