Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 10, 1995 TAG: 9505100049
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PEORIA, Ill. - Caterpillar Inc. officials Tuesday rejected an offer from the striking United Auto Workers union to return to the bargaining table this week.
The Peoria, Ill.-based company issued a statement that called the UAW's offer to meet Thursday ``hastily planned'' and said a meeting this week would not be productive.
The UAW issued a statement earlier that said the union is ready to resume what it calls ``full-scale, continuous negotiations'' and stay until an agreement is reached to end the strike, which began last June. The last contract expired in 1991.
- Associated Press
Rubber workers vote to end walkout
DECATUR, Ill. - Striking workers at a Bridgestone-Firestone Inc. plant voted to return unconditionally to the jobs they walked out on during a national strike last summer.
But a company spokesman wouldn't say how many union members would be called back to work. About 1,250 members worked at the plant; the company has hired 900 replacements since the strike.
The union vote was taken Sunday at a meeting to update members on the progress of negotiations. No vote had been scheduled.
Roger Gates, president of United Rubber Workers Local 713 said workers voted by at least a 2-to-1 margin to return unconditionally to work.
A national strike was called against the nation's No.3 tire manufacturer July 12. More than 4,000 workers struck plants in Decatur, Oklahoma City and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as a Bridgestone-Firestone research center in Akron, Ohio.
- Associated Press
Virginia Power testing a super TV
RICHMOND - Virginia Power will test a technology that could let people use their television sets to report power outages, review the amount of electricity their appliances use and check their monthly bills.
The technology, developed by Northern Telecom Ltd. for Cox Cable Communications, also could let the Richmond-based utility use the local cable television network to read electric meters, turn high-energy appliances off when power supplies are low and monitor electronic quality.
``It's pretty limitless, what we could do with this,'' said Virginia Power spokesman William H. Byrd.
Virginia Power, Cox's Hampton Roads cable television system and Northern Telecom will test the digital technology in the homes of 12 Norfolk-area employees during the next year.
- Associated Press
by CNB