ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997 TAG: 9702140078
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO JOBCHEK
Thomson to move operation from U.S.
INDIANAPOLIS - Thomson Consumer Electronics, the nation's largest maker of televisions, said Thursday it will cut more than 1,500 jobs at two U.S. TV factories and move the work to Mexico, where labor is cheaper.
When the factories close in April 1998, the electronics company will effectively get out of the U.S. TV assembly business but will still make TV parts.
Thomson, which makes RCA, GE and ProScan TV sets, plans to shut its Bloomington TV plant, which employs 1,100 people. It also will cease production at its TV cabinet plant in Indianapolis, cutting 420 workers.
The company cited fierce U.S. competition that has driven down prices of color TV sets, cutting profit margins at a time of lower-than-expected sales.
Bill Cook, business manager of Local 1424 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at the Bloomington plant, gave a higher estimate of jobs affected by the decision.
Cook said the Bloomington plant employs 1,357 hourly and supervisory employees. Of the hourly workers, about 500 currently are on layoff, Cook said.
Cook said the Indianapolis plant employed 645 workers as of December. He said about 135 workers making circuit boards there will keep their jobs.
- Associated Press
Fixed-rate mortgages decline
WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.65 percent this week, the lowest in seven weeks, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
The decline, from 7.74 percent the week before, put the rate at the lowest level since the week ended Dec. 26, when it was 7.64 percent.
On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.52 percent, up from 5.51 percent last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.14 percent this week, down from 7.25 percent a week earlier and the lowest in nine weeks.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.
- Associated Press
Nine West to fire 1,000 workers
STAMFORD, CONN. - Nine West Group Inc. said it will close three plants and fire 1,000 people, half its U.S. manufacturing work force, as it shifts shoe production outside the U.S.
The maker of Easy Spirit, Pappagallo and Evan Picone shoes is moving the production overseas and restructuring other U.S. plants to cut costs.
Nine West is the largest U.S. maker of women's casual and dress shoes. It also operates more than 1,000 retail stores in the U.S. and internationally, including one in Roanoke County.
Nine West said it will close plants in Madison and Crothersville, Ind., and Flemingburg, Ky. The closings will begin in April and continue through late 1997.
- Bloomberg Business News
Former First Union branches sold
Hall Associates Inc., a Roanoke commercial realty firm, brokered the sale of two bank branches in Bristol that were formerly occupied by First Union National Bank of Virginia. The transactions, handled by Ed Hall and Stuart Meredith of Hall, included sale of the Lee Highway branch to Twin City Federal Savings Bank and the Midway branch to Blue Ridge Bank.
- Staff report
Markets close for Presidents Day
U.S. financial markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. The Roanoke Times will not publish The Daily Market Report and other financial tables on its Business pages on Tuesday. Regular financial reports will resume with Wednesday's editions.
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