Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Union workers demonstrated Wednesday outside Firestone Tire and Service in Roanoke over union struggles involving the local store's owner, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. of Nashville, Tenn.
The joint protest by Roanoke-area members of the United Steelworkers of America and United Rubber Workers was in support of a URW-called national boycott of Bridgestone and Firestone products. The two unions have announced plans to merge.
In July 1994, some 4,000 rubber workers struck Bridgestone/Firestone tire plants in Decatur, Ill; Des Moines, Iowa; and Oklahoma City; an air springs plant in Noblesville, Ind; and a company research center in Akron, Ohio.
Six months later, the company hired 2,300 replacement workers, saying it did so after the union rejected a proposed increase in wages and benefits that would have raised an average employee's total compensation by 15 percent.
But the steelworkers' statement Wednesday said Bridgestone/Firestone has sought to cut wages and health care benefits and eliminate Memorial Day and Independence Day holidays. The statement also accused the company of firing strikers illegally.
The URW said it ended its strike May 21 in favor of expanded boycott. Bridgestone/Firestone said it agreed to take back strikers where vacancies existed in the plants and to place the rest on preferential hiring lists.
- Staff report
NationsBank loans to minorities dip
NationsBank Corp. reported Wednesday it made $3.4 million worth of home mortgage and home improvement loans in low- and moderate-income areas of Roanoke last year. Douglas C. Waters, the bank's regional executive, said that was a 7.5 percent decrease from the prior year.
Waters told a community group at High Street Baptist Church there was an 11 percent decline in applications and loans booked last year by the bank.
One reason, he said, is that "community investment lending has become highly competitive - and we think that is good for our neighborhoods."
Another reason was the nationwide decline in home mortgage activity as interest rates rose and customers postponed the decision to buy a home.
Last year, Waters said, NationsBank received 240 home mortgage and home improvement loan applications from Roanoke residents. He said 25 percent were from minority applicants, which generally is in line with the city's population.
- Staff report
CFW buys cable outfit in Alleghany
WAYNESBORO - CFW Communications Co. on Wednesday bought the Alleghany County cable television operations of Sammons Communications Co. Inc., CFW officials said. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Sammons, based in Covington, serves 7,100 customers in Covington, Clifton Forge, Iron Gate and Alleghany County.
CFW Communications is a diversified telecommunications company based in Waynesboro. CFW Cable operates wireless cable TV systems in Charlottesville and the Shenandoah Valley and plans to start a system in Richmond this year.
- Associated Press
Yokich elected UAW president
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Stephen P. Yokich, a fiery and charismatic labor leader who has faced General Motors Corp. bargainers for the past six years, was elected president of the United Auto Workers on Wednesday.
Delegates at the UAW's triennial convention in Anaheim chose Yokich by acclamation to succeed Owen Bieber, who is retiring after 12 years.
Yokich, 59, has been a UAW vice president since 1980 and head of the GM department, the union's largest, since 1989. He takes over as the labor movement in the United States is battling to rebuild after more than a decade on the defensive and as increasing numbers of workers are reluctant to align themselves with unions.
In nearly 40 years as a UAW activist, Yokich has built a reputation as a worker advocate who is demanding but fair. ``You may not like what you're hearing from him, but you're getting it straight,'' said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at the University of California-Berkeley who has watched Yokich operate for 20 years.
- Associated Press
by CNB