ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150103
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
Georgia-Pacific to cut 150 jobs
ATLANTA - Georgia-Pacific Corp. is laying off another 150 employees, bringing to 445 the number of jobs cut in the past nine months as part of a $400 million cost-cutting plan for the forest products company.
Thirty of the employees in the Atlanta headquarters were notified last week, company spokeswoman Sheila Weidman said Tuesday. The other 120, based throughout the nation in the company's woods products division, will be notified soon, she said. The company, which employs 47,000 people, said the layoffs would not affect its Roanoke-area operations.
- Associated Press
Travelers ignore airline strike talk
DALLAS - As the word ``strike'' begins to be batted about in a contract dispute between American Airlines and its pilots, travel agents say passengers are continuing to book advance tickets.
American's parent company, AMR Corp., has given the Allied Pilot Association until 8 a.m. local time today to decide whether it will accept binding arbitration now that the talks have been declared at an impasse.
If the pilots reject binding arbitration, a 30-day cooling-off period would kick in, during which time they would not be allowed to strike. If they make no decision, the airline has said it would reject binding arbitration, and again the cooling-off period would kick in - meaning if no settlement is reached, the earliest the pilots could strike would be mid-February, just before the long President's Day weekend.
The union board's new proposal, disclosed late Friday, calls for 3percent pay raises each year through 1999 and a 2percent increase in 2000. The rejected contract would have given a 3percent increase this year and a 2percent increase in 1999.
-Associated Press
First Citizens plans 3 valley branches
First Citizens Bank of Raleigh, N.C., said Tuesday it has received regulatory approval to open three branches in the Roanoke Valley.
One, inside the Cave Spring Harris Teeter under construction at 4400 Brambleton Ave. S.W., is scheduled to open in this year's second quarter.
Another, at Electric Road and Bernard Drive in the former First Union Bank building, also is to open in the second quarter. A drive-in facility across Bernard Drive from the office is expected to open in the third quarter, and a branch at 970 Hardy Road in Vinton is scheduled to open late in the year.
-Staff report
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB