Jan 11
Workers on Sunday rejected a new contract that would have guaranteed a $225 million expansion at Timken Co.’s Faircrest steel plant in Canton.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The United Steelworkers union in Canton has rejected a new contract with industrial supplier Timken Co. that would have guaranteed a $225 million expansion of that company’s Faircrest steel plant.
Calls to the union were not immediately returned this morning, but the USW Local 1123′s voicemail confirmed that workers rejected the deal by a vote of 608-917.
Reached last month, the new contract would have offered signing bonuses and accelerated scheduled pay increases and would have run through 2017. The union’s contract with the company expires next year.
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Jan 10
John Richards’s Predictions for 2012
Since our previous predictions have proved fairly accurate, I am going to stick my neck out and give some fairly specific best-guesses for the next year. I must give the health warning that these are only extrapolations of present trends, and do not take account of currently unforeseeable events – which, of course, always occur.
First, the good news: the world as a whole should avoid a full recession in 2012 – emphasise the word should. All the bad news should not be allowed to obscure the fact that global business is growing, albeit slowly. Recovery from 2008 should not be expected to be spectacular, but it ought to continue, so long as everyone keeps their heads.
Alas, the bad news is that they are unlikely to keep them in Europe. The latest scheme to save the euro, FU (Fiscal Union), does not address its underlying problems. I pre
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Jan 04
McDonald’s, whose contract runs out after this year’s London Olympics, and IOC officials will meet in Austria during the Innsbruck Youth Olympics starting Friday to finalize details.
“The situation is positive and I don’t see any obstacle. We are very close,” IOC marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg told Reuters. “We will meet in Innsbruck and finalize everything. Hopefully we will sign the contract there.”
Heiberg said the new, four-Games deal would include the 2020 summer Olympics, which have yet to be awarded to a host, as well as the 2014 winter Games in Sochi, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang winter Olympics.
McDonald’s is one of 11 top sponsors who contribute an estimated 100 million each for every two-Games package of one winter and one summer Games though the IOC does not release details on individual deals.
The company has been an official sponsor since 1976.
Dow Chemical Co.
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Jan 02
« Facebook is Good, but Personal Face Time is Better, Say MIT Sloan MBAs By razavi | January 3, 2012
From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movements, 2011 witnessed an incredible expansion of the use of the internet for social activism and change. But less frequently reported are the increasing cyber-attacks on human rights activists. From communications blackouts, to Denial of Service attacks, to the use of Western technology to track down political dissidents, activists of all stripes were at incredible risk in 2011, according to a new report released today by Access titled “Global Civil Society At Risk: An Overview of Some of the Major Cyber Threats Facing Civil Society.” ()
“The events over the past year should serve as a global wakeup call to human rights activists and their allies. Civil
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Jan 02
Dear readers,
I wanted to share these tips I saw in Tom “Big Al” Schreiter’s Fortune Now newsletter. With a few extra additions on effective business cards from me.
6 Tips for effective business cards design
1. Put your picture on your business card. People will remember you more easily. And you appear more approachable.
2. Use big print. As people get older , their eyes get weaker. You want them to be able to read your phone number and email address.
3. Use both sides of your business card. Don’t let that extra advertising space go to waste. Maybe you can make the back of your card into a coupon or introductory special.
4. VistaPrint.com always has introductory specials. Great place for business cards in small quantities.
5. Put your best foot forward. Prospects don’t care about your company name, they care about the benefit to them. Put your
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Dec 31
Holiday shopping traffic may be light so far this year, but purchases are up, says one retail developer. And the shift is now turning from self purchases to holiday gift shopping.
“People are getting more serious about their shopping,” said Karen MacDonald, spokeswoman for the Taubman Group, which owns 25 shopping centers around the country including Metro Detroit malls Fairlane Town Center, Twelve Oaks Mall, Great Lakes Crossing Outlets and The Mall at Partridge Creek.
Jennifer Skalecki and her friend Nicole Hadrian, both of Roseville, did some shopping Saturday afternoon at Eastland Mall in Harper Woods. Hadrian shopped for herself at Macy’s while Skalecki bought Christmas presents for her boyfriend.
Skalecki said she’s already finished shopping for her children. Her purchases included lots of toys and bicycles for the kids, as well as shoes, cologne and clothes for her boyfriend.
“The prices are up a lot more than last year,” she said. “I noticed that.
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Dec 15
Massachusetts added 5,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 7 percent, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Unemployment, which stood at 7.3 percent the previous month, is now the lowest it’s been since December 2008. It’s also well below the national rate of 8.6 percent.
The biggest employment gains came in the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 4,300 jobs, and trade, transportation and utilities, which added 3,000. Construction and manufacturing each lost 1,400 jobs, though both industries are still significantly up from last year.
The state also revised its estimate of October jobs gains upward, from 10,800 to 11,900.