THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110305
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Union wants to involve Crestar in labor dispute
A coalition of labor unions threatened to pull millions of dollars in deposits from Crestar Financial Corp. unless the company helps settle a labor dispute between Washington Gas Light Co. and its workers. Several unions are rallying behind the International Union of Gas Workers in a yearlong battle with Washington Gas over a new labor agreement for more than 1,000 workers in Northern Virginia and other parts of the Washington area. They are targeting Richmond-based Crestar because it is a major lender to Washington Gas. The gas company also has a strong presence on Crestar's board of directors. (AP)
York County has funds to entice business
York County's Industrial Development Authority and Board of Supervisors plan to huddle soon to decide what to do with a $500,000 fund intended to attract businesses. The newly established Economic Development Incentive Fund, a line item in the county's $56.133 million 1996-97 operating budget, was approved by the supervisors last week and becomes effective for the fiscal year beginning July 1. That money is separate from the IDA's 1996-97 county-funded $193,000 operating budget. Of that, $50,000 will go to the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council, the region's marketing arm, Executive Director James Noel said. (Knight Ridder/Tribune)
Guards' union, shipyard call for mediator
Newport News Shipbuilding and its security guard union have asked for a federal mediator to intervene in contract negotiations. About 100 guards represented by United Plant Guard Workers of America Local 451 have been working without a contract this week. The old contract expired at midnight Sunday, and negotiations broke down the next day. The union agreed to a 50-month wage freeze and to give back vacation days and holidays. But James Allen, president of Local 451, said negotiators refused to accept proposed changes in the way the company pays overtime and selects workers for layoffs. (AP)
Holmes Brothers gets work in Navy yard
The Navy awarded a $2.6 million contract to Holmes Brothers Enterprises Inc. for work on the amphibious assault ship Wasp. The job will help keep the Suffolk-based ship repair firm's 125 workers busy for at least five months, said Stanley Holmes, Holmes Brothers chief executive. The work begins on the Wasp next week in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The contract includes painting the ship and cleaning its bilges. Holmes said there was an extra $1 million of option items in the contract that the Navy is expected to want done. (Staff) by CNB