PHOENIX — A court ruling says Arizona’s budget crisis warranted state officials’ decision to skip normally required protections for state employees targeted for layoffs.

The ruling by Judge Andrew Klein of Maricopa County Superior Court denied a union’s request for a preliminary injunction against the state in connection with more than 1,000 layoffs of state workers in February.

Klein said it would have caused irreparable harm to the state to provide advance notices of layoffs, offer a voluntary separation program and conduct individual hearings for workers before terminations took effect.

State law requires those steps but also gives the state leeway if time or money doesn’t permit, Klein said.

Klein said it would have required additional layoffs if department and other agencies had to delay the layoffs needed to find cost savings ordered by the Legislature with more than half of the fiscal year already over.

“These are unprecedented economic times, the likes of which haven’t been seen for many years,” Klein wrote in his April 17 ruling. “The state was given a mandate by the Legislature for each department to reduce its budget drastically and to do it expeditiously.”

Klein, who previously denied a request for a temporary restraining order, has scheduled a hearing Friday on a motion by the state to dismiss the suit outright.

A package of spending cuts, raids on special-purpose funds and use of federal stimulus dollars included in a late January budget-balancing package did not specifically order layoffs.

However, officials said layoffs were unavoidable for some departments and agencies because many of the spending cuts specifically targeted personnel expenses. Furloughs — unpaid time off — also were widely ordered throughout state government, but some departments concluded that strategy wouldn’t provide enough of the required savings.

Agencies hit hardest by layoffs include the Departments of Administration, Economic Security and Revenue. Each also used furloughs.

Klein said the timing and severity of the budget cuts created a “perfect storm” that resulted in layoff decisions “that were in the departments’ best interests and achieved the objective of separating the fewest amount of employees possible.”

Circumstances, namely the lack of money, didn’t permit departments to provide advance notices of layoffs or other normal pre-termination procedures, he said.

CINCINNATI – Kroger Co. leaders listed their company’s ability to target customers and its broad portfolio of corporate brands among its competitive advantages in luring spending by today’s cautious consumers.

The Cincinnati-based company, the nation’s largest traditional grocery chain, reinforced its earlier guidance at the Barclays Capital analysts conference Tuesday in New York.

Kroger, which is the parent company of Fry’s, expects full-year earnings of $2 to $2.05 per share in 2009. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect $2.04 a share.

Kroger also repeated that it expects growth in identical-store sales to slow this year to 3 percent or 4 percent from a growth rate of 5 percent last year. Sales for stores open at least five quarters are a key retail gauge because they exclude stores that open or close during the year.

David B. Dillon, the company’s chairman and CEO, said the company’s future is bright and Kroger will deliver for investors even during the recession.

“In today’s economy, operating nearly any retail business is challenging,” Dillon said. “The good news about Kroger’s business is that people have to eat, and we’re positioned well to deliver value to customers at a time when they need it.”

Kroger customers are using more coupons and food stamps and giving other signs they’re trying to stretch their dollars, Dillon said. He said sales for Kroger’s no-frills, low-priced Value brand have been strong, but so has growth for its Private Selection brand, meant to compete with leading national brands but usually at a lower price.

Kroger reported earlier that 27 percent of its fourth-quarter grocery revenue came from sales of corporate brands.

Kroger’s use of loyalty cards in a data-mining partnership with London-based dunnhumby enables it to individualize coupon offers and direct mailings to customers, based on analysis of their purchase habits, and also to closely track buying patterns, Dillon said.

“These tools are essential at a time when the economy is causing consumer behavior to shift rapidly,” Dillon said. “No other U.S. grocery retailer can currently replicate this level of personalization.”

Dillon said Kroger estimates that 45 percent of the grocery business, or $100 billion in sales, in its major markets is held by grocers that lack Kroger’s competitive scale.

“We still see plenty of opportunity for us to grow our business,” Dillon said.

Kroger operates nearly 2,500 grocery stores in 31 states, including under some two dozen local banners such as Ralphs, Fred Meyer and Fry’s.

Kroger shares were up 32 cents, to $21.78, in late-morning trading. They have traded in a 52-week range of $19.39 to $30.99.

Equal Pay Day is April 28.

Economists are predicting the number of women on the national payroll will surpass the number of men in 2009 because 82 percent of recession-related job losses have impacted men.

This news has sparked many discussions about how gender roles may or may not be affected in traditional American families.

Will Dad now run the household while Mom earns the income? Will Mom still do 17 hours of housework per week?

While who washes the dishes may be of great concern within the four walls of any couple’s kitchen, there is an issue of much greater importance that hasn’t been talked about.

Women still earn, on average, just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. Plus, the number of women in the top-paying jobs is trending downward based on a comparison of how many women held executive positions in 2008 versus 2007.

This means while American families sort out who will take out the trash and who will scrub the toilet, they also need to figure out how they will live on less income. Mom and Dad may be able to swap chores, but they still can’t swap earning potential.

Those who think pay inequity is caused by women who opt out of full time, fast-track careers may continue to think this is a women’s issue brought about by choice, therefore affecting only women.

But a shift on the national payroll will affect all Americans: women, children and men. It is important that we take note of this, especially in light of the current economic climate.

Women consistently are paid less than men for the same work, and when it becomes those women that are the financial heads of households, it is entire families that suffer. The same is true when women are boxed out of the top-earning jobs.

As the wife and sole breadwinner in my family, I know for a fact that health care costs, grocery bills and mortgage payments don’t discriminate based on gender. The cost of raising a family isn’t cut by 22 percent, even when a salary is.

It doesn’t take an economist to understand that when American families are struggling, consumer spending goes down. And consumer spending accounts for approximately 70 percent of total economic activity. Even the best laid stimulus plan is at risk unless we right the gender inequities in the workplace.

Closing the wage gap and promoting women in the workplace has to be part of the package if we are going to revive our economy.

Businesses and government need to implement mentoring and succession planning for women, offer and secure equal pay for equal work, and implement family-friendly work/life programs.

If they don’t, how can we expect Dad to pay for the groceries when he does the shopping each week?

Liz O’Donnell is a public relations consultant and regular contributor to TheGlassHammer.com. This commentary was distributed by the American Forum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization that provides views of state experts on major public concerns to stimulate informed discussion.

New Haven Firefighter Gary Tinney strands in front of the firehouse where he works in New Haven, Conn. Tinney is one of a group of African-American firefighters in New Haven who are at the center of a controversy over promotions - a case that has worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There was a time in America when the color of your skin determined whether or not you could get a job or promotion.

Thankfully, Congress outlawed such practices in 1964, and we are a better country for it.

But just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that could determine discrimination is OK, so long as its victims are not black.

The case was brought by a group of New Haven, Conn., firefighters who had taken a civil service test to become lieutenants or captains but were denied promotion because the city didn’t like the racial outcome of the test results.

Whites and Hispanics scored the highest among firefighters. No blacks scored high enough to be promoted, so the city decided to throw out the test results. Seventeen white firefighters and one Hispanic, who were denied promotions, sued.

One of the more interesting aspects of this case involves the individual plaintiffs – at least one of whom is an ethnic minority, Hispanic, and another who is dyslexic.

Lead plaintiff Frank Ricci quit a second job so he could study for the test and hired someone to make audiotapes so he could better prepare for the exams.

Despite his reading disability, Ricci placed sixth out of 77 taking the lieutenants exam.

How can anyone claim that denying this man a promotion because he happens to be white is right, much less legal?

A lower court supported the city’s decision to throw out the test results, without a full hearing. A three-judge panel with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.

When plaintiffs appealed to have the case heard by all 13 members of the Appeals Court, the vote split 7-6 against hearing the appeal.

A Clinton-appointed judge, Jose Cabranes, issued an eloquent dissent: “At its core, this case presents a straightforward question: May a municipal employer disregard the results of a qualifying examination, which was carefully constructed to ensure race-neutrality, on the ground that the results of that examination yielded too many qualified applicants of one race and not enough of another?”

It is exactly the right question to ask.

Is it conceivable in this day and age that a court would uphold the right of an employer to throw out test results if blacks were the highest scorers? (And remember, as Judge Cabranes noted, the tests in this case were carefully constructed to ensure that no racial bias existed in the questions.)

We’d be rightly appalled if the shoe were on the other foot and high-scoring blacks were denied promotions because the city preferred to promote whites.

We should be just as disturbed when the city chooses to deny white and Hispanic firefighters promotions they deserve. Race shouldn’t determine who gets promoted, period.

You’d think we’d have learned this lesson long ago, but apparently not – and the effects have had pernicious consequences.

We may not have totally eliminated racial prejudice, but promoting less-qualified individuals in the name of diversity undermines our sense of fairness. It also casts doubt on the abilities of even well-qualified members of the racial group that has received favored treatment.

Nonetheless, the case will likely be a close call for Supreme Court justices, not based on the merits but because the court is split almost evenly.

Four justices think discrimination is OK, so long as it doesn’t disadvantage minorities, and four believe that the civil rights laws and Constitution apply equally to all persons, regardless of their race.

The man in the middle, Justice Anthony Kennedy, often is skeptical of race-based preferences, but occasionally votes with those who want to take race into account. How he votes when the court hands down its decision later this year will likely determine this case.

Is it too much to hope that someday we’ll get beyond race in this country?

The only way to get there is by outlawing discrimination against anyone because of race.

Linda Chavez is chair of the Center for Equal Opportunity and author of “An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal.” E-mail: lchavez@ceousa.org

DETROIT – In what appears to be a record voluntary shutdown, General Motors plans to essentially quit making cars and trucks in the U.S. for nine weeks from mid-May through July.

According to two sources with direct knowledge, who did not want to be identified because no official announcement had been made, the plan is to shut 15 of GM’s 21 North American car and truck assembly plants, most of them in the USA.

GM will meet with United Auto Workers leaders today and Friday to spell out details.

The shutdown is aimed at cutting costs and shrinking a glut of unsold vehicles at dealers.

The dramatic furlough also could whipsaw through the larger economy as GM quits buying parts from suppliers, and its workers, now even more worried about their jobs, quit spending.

“There could be failures in lots of different industries as a result of this,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “One lost job at GM can result in up to 10 lost jobs elsewhere.”

If the GM halt puts some struggling component makers out of business, other automakers who rely on the same network of parts suppliers also could be hurt.

Union workers laid off will get about 72 percent of pay from state unemployment, plus “supplemental unemployment benefits,” a GM-paid union benefit.

There will be a significant blow to GM’s finances, which have already been battered by the downturn in car sales. Automakers book revenue when they produce and ship vehicles to dealers, not when the cars are sold to customers. That means GM’s revenue will shrivel for the nine-week period.

GM is surviving on $13.4 billion in federal loans. The government says it will decide by June 1 whether GM is restructuring fast enough to qualify for more loans.

Such an extended production halt could be “a sign that (GM) bankruptcy is more likely, rather than less likely,” says Stephen Spivey, senior auto analyst at research company Frost & Sullivan.

At the least, it’s end of the 2009 model year for GM. “They just plan to shut down and come back up with the next model-year (2010) vehicles,” Spivey says. “Production has to be slashed to match the sales trend.”

While U.S. new-vehicle sales the first quarter were off 38.4 percent compared with a year ago, according to Autodata, GM was off 48.8 percent.

Even with the shutdown, GM vehicles will be readily available, says Rebecca Lindland, director of auto analysis at IHS Global Insight. “It hurts the consumer who says, “I want this very specific vehicle,’ but dealers have plenty to sell. It shouldn’t really be a problem.”

Arizona tomato producer Eurofresh Farms Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, CEO Dwight Ferguson said.

Eurofresh Inc.’s reorganization filing is part of an effort to recapitalize the company, which grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in greenhouses, Ferguson said.

“This decision was largely taken because of the debt load the company has acquired as it has grown so rapidly in recent years,” he said. “We’re still profitable, we’re still cash positive. We just have a big debt burden we need to correct.”

The company’s Arizona growing and packaging operations employ about 1,600. There is no plan to change the Arizona head count, he said.

Eurofresh’s Arizona facilities near Willcox and Snowflake cover more than 318 acres.

Eurofresh plans to submit a plan in May and complete its financial reorganization in the third quarter, Ferguson said.

The reorganization should appear seamless to customers, he said.

Eurofresh sells branded vegetables to major retail supermarket and club store chains nationwide, he said. Tomatoes account for more than 80 percent of the company’s business.

SAN FRANCISCO – IBM Corp.’s first-quarter results slipped as all its major business units suffered declines, but the company backed its bullish outlook for 2009 on Monday, reflecting its belief that a broad mix of services and software will help it weather the recession.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based company’s profit beat Wall Street’s forecast, but sales fell short. The stock was down 1.5 percent in after-hours trading Monday.

IBM reported after the market closed that that its profit was $2.30 billion, or $1.70 per share. That was higher than the $1.66 per share analysts were expecting.

In the same period last year, IBM earned $2.32 billion, or $1.64 per share.

Sales fell 11 percent to $21.7 billion, $800 million short of the $22.5 billion analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting. IBM said the revenue drop would have been 4 percent were it not for the effects of a strengthening dollar.

The earnings report came on the same day that longtime rival Sun Microsystems Inc., which had recently been in talks to be bought by IBM, announced a $7.4 billion deal instead with Oracle Corp. IBM appears unlikely to try to outbid Oracle.

IBM used the earnings release to reiterate its previous guidance for earnings of $9.20 per share in 2009. The company pointed to its better profit margins in services and software, which together contribute more than 80 percent of IBM’s revenue and can be successful in a downturn by helping corporate customers save money.

However, the downturn still showed up in the first-quarter numbers. Services revenue was $13.2 billion, down 10 percent. Software sales were $4.5 billion, a 6 percent decline.

Hardware sales took a bigger hit, falling 24 percent to $3.2 billion. Sales of both high-end mainframe computers and industry-standard servers showed double-digit declines.

In another closely watched indicator for IBM, it signed new services contracts worth $12.5 billion in the first quarter, a decrease of 1 percent from last year. Were it not for currency fluctuations, the value would risen 10 percent, IBM said. These contracts represent revenue that will be booked in the coming years.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams, said IBM had “really, really solid execution” in the first quarter with “awesome” long-term services signings — up 14 percent to $7 billion. He said investors likely were disappointed to see short-term contract signings fall 14 percent to $5.5 billion and the ongoing struggles of the hardware division.

“They need to do something there,” Misek said.

Citigroup said last month it is shuffling some of its executives, with Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden tapped for the newly created position of chairman of Citi Holdings.

NEW YORK – The anger was evident at Citigroup Inc.’s annual meeting, where shareholders took turns at the microphone to object to how the bank has been operating.

The meeting is usually a well-attended affair lasting many hours as shareholders air their grievances, and Tuesday’s gathering was as somber and full of ire as ever. When Citi Chairman Richard Parsons recognized the five departing members of the board, who include ex-chairman Win Bischoff and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, one man from the audience yelled out: “Thank God you’ve gone!”

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit tried to bring a more upbeat atmosphere to the ballroom at the New York Hilton hotel, emphasizing to shareholders that Citigroup is not the same company it was just a year ago, when it was became clear the bank was buckling under the weight of billions of dollars in bad debt.

In his opening remarks, Pandit said the four new board members would bring “new eyes” to the bank. He also discussed the “new structure” that has split the bank into two parts, and the “new strategy” and “new beginning” that the company is embarking on.

“Citi is one of the great business opportunities of our age,” Pandit said. He added: “I believe to my core that Citigroup has what it takes to rebound, what it takes to rebuild.”

The four nominees include former U.S. Bancorp CEO Jerry Grundhofer; former Bank of Hawaii CEO Michael O’Neill, former Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Anthony Santomero; and William S. Thompson Jr., former CEO of bond investment manager Pimco.

Many shareholders have been calling for change at the board level for years, but some say say the new nominations don’t go far enough.

Kenneth Steiner, who said he owns about 10,000 shares, supported a proposal that would require the company to nominate two candidates for every board position instead of just one.

“Right now, it’s a non-election, basically,” Steiner said. “We know who’s going to win.”

Shareholders brought up other issues, questioning Citigroup’s underwriting standards for credit cards, executive compensation and its decision to sponsor the New York Mets ballpark, Citi Field.

Citigroup last week posted its best quarter since 2007, but still reported a $966 million loss to common shareholders. Before dividends paid to preferred shareholders, Citigroup posted net income of $1.6 billion. The figure relieved investors to some extent — the bank benefited from strong bond trading, low borrowing rates and severe cost-cutting.

But they remain concerned Citigroup could have sharp losses ahead of it. Loan losses and reserve builds for future loan losses amounted to $10 billion. Furthermore, accounting rules allowed Citigroup to take a $2.7 billion gain in its derivatives, because it, counterintuitively, benefited from the declining value of its debt.

Chuck Jones, who said he owned about 25,000 Citi shares, asked Parsons and the board whether they were betting on Citigroup’s recovery and buying Citigroup shares.

“How many of these directors,” Jones asked, “bought Citi at a dollar a share?”

“I wish I had,” Parsons said with a chuckle. Citigroup’s shares have tripled since dropping to 97 cents in early March.

DETROIT – A Chapter 11 filing might be the most effective way to overhaul General Motors Corp., but that doesn’t mean the sweeping changes that are possible in bankruptcy court are going to be quick or easy.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said Friday that the company still would prefer to restructure out of court as it tries to prove it can survive to repay its $13.4 billion in government loans, but he conceded that bankruptcy protection is more probable than it was in the past.

Henderson said in a conference call with reporters that GM is simultaneously restructuring out of court and planning for Chapter 11. The company would either file a prearranged bankruptcy in which stakeholders agree to take cuts, or use a section of the federal code that allows companies to sell off bad assets and keep good ones.

Experts say there are many reasons why the quick, “surgical” bankruptcy that GM may seek won’t be as smooth or as fast as the company and U.S. government expect.

“It would be a mammoth undertaking,” said Jon Groetzinger, a visiting law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “It has been done, not on a scale quite as big as GM.”

In order for it to go quickly, GM would have to gain agreements from creditors to wipe out debts, unions to change contracts, and perhaps dealers to alter franchise agreements, experts said. There could be thousands of claims from employees, retirees, parts suppliers and others that would have to be heard by the court.

“The only way it would be speedy was if they had all the agreements in advance. But then why would you need it?” asked Doug Bernstein, a lawyer with Plunkett Cooney PC in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

It’s overly optimistic to think GM can go in and out of bankruptcy for a “quick rinse” of its troubles in as little as two weeks to four months, according to Bernstein. The process, he said, could drag on because creditors could object to contract changes and be heard in court. Experts say six months would be considered quick.

Key to emerging quickly would be advance deals with the United Auto Workers union and holders of roughly $28 billion in GM bond debt. Bondholders are being asked to take stock for part of their debt, while the union is negotiating to accept stock for roughly $20 billion in payments GM must make to a trust that will take over retiree health care costs next year.

Henderson said there has been dialogue but no intense talks with a bondholders’ committee. Negotiations with the union have taken a back seat to talks at Chrysler LLC, which faces an April 30 deadline to finish restructuring and forge an alliance with Italy’s Fiat Group SpA. GM’s deadline to give the government completed restructuring plans is June 1.

The decision to file for bankruptcy would be made with the Treasury Department’s autos task force and GM’s board, and the government is not pressuring GM to file, Henderson said.

“I felt several weeks ago that it would be more probable that we would need to go through a bankruptcy process,” he said. “That continues today. But I wouldn’t be able to hazard a guess as to what the probabilities would be.”

Henderson mentioned Section 363 of the bankruptcy code, in which companies under court supervision auction off bad assets while keeping good ones.

“The first thing a company will do when they go into bankruptcy is figure out what their bum assets are,” Groetzinger said. “It’s a way of shedding the nonproductive or less-productive assets.”

But such auctions need time for the company to line up bidders, and creditors may object to the terms, he said. GM’s good assets also could be auctioned, he said.

Even if GM gets deals outside of bankruptcy to exchange debt for equity, slash benefits, or close showrooms, not every bondholder, retiree or dealer will agree, said Steve Mertz, a partner with the Faegre & Benson law firm in Minneapolis.

“At the end of the end of the day you’re going to have to use the bankruptcy process to implement whatever agreements they negotiated outside of bankruptcy,” he said.

Regardless of how GM is restructured, the automaker will need more government aid in the second quarter, Henderson said, although further loans haven’t been approved. The company said in February that it would need $4.6 billion in the quarter, and that hasn’t changed, he said.

Meanwhile, GM is finding ways to make deeper cuts than its Feb. 17 viability plan outlined. Henderson emphasized that more factories will be shuttered beyond the five closures GM announced in February. The factories have not been identified.

More employees will lose their jobs this year than the 47,000 the company had planned to lay off two months ago.

GM is also working to slash its portfolio of eight brands.

Henderson expects final bids from three potential Hummer buyers by next week, with a decision expected by the end of April. He said several parties are interested in GM’s troubled Saab unit. GM revealed this week that a number of groups have proposed to take over Saturn.

More than six parties are interested in buying a stake in GM’s Opel unit in Germany, and Henderson said he expects work to be done in the next two to three weeks.

But despite reports that GM is under pressure to get even smaller, Henderson emphasized that the company’s plan calls for the automaker to keep four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. He said GMC and Buick are highly profitable.

Henderson also said the company will not sell its ACDelco parts division, despite having potential buyers.

“It’s a highly profitable business for us. It’s creating good, strong cash flow,” Henderson said. “Our conclusion was that we weren’t going to get the value for the business.”

Henderson also said the company’s April sales were “OK,” but he did not elaborate.

GM shares fell 8 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $1.86 Friday.

PHOENIX — A voter-approved measure that has Arizona’s minimum wage above the federal requirement is forcing some restaurant owners to lay off and reduce health benefits for employees, industry leaders told state lawmakers Tuesday.

“Local restaurants support our communities, and right now we’re in trouble,” said Matt McMahon, owner of 19 Outback Steakhouse locations in Arizona. “The economy is not the problem; bad laws are the problem.”

The Arizona Minimum Wage Act, approved in 2006, requires the minimum wage to adjust each January based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index. Arizona’s minimum wage rose to $7.25 per hour this year from $6.90 in 2008.

The federal minimum wage stands at $6.55 but will rise to $7.25 in July.

Members of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association told the Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee that the state requirement is hurting their industry.

McMahon and three other restaurant owners told lawmakers that it isn’t realistic to base Arizona’s minimum wage on the constantly changing CPI. They said that having to pay progressively higher wages has strained their revenues, making layoffs inevitable.

Stephen Johnson, owner and president of Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen, said that having to pay the increased minimum wage forced him to lay off employees even before the economic crisis.

“I was paying 95 percent of my employees’ health insurance; I had to cut it to 65 percent to make up the loss of revenue,” Johnson said. “That has harmed my employees more than they benefited from the raise.”

Another restaurant owner asked lawmakers to look at a provision of the act calling for employees who regularly receive tips to be paid $3 less than minimum wage.

Mike Head, vice chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association and operating partner of a Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Scottsdale, said that his employees who get tips now make considerably more than cooks and servers assistants who work without tips.

“I appreciate the contribution of everyone on my team; however, now the hardest-working people are not the highest-paid people,” Head said.

Because voters approved the change, it would take a three-quarters vote of both houses of the Legislature to overturn it.

Dana Kennedy, communications director of the Arizona AFL-CIO, said in an interview that the act is necessary to protect Arizona’s lowest-income employees. She said she doesn’t believe the minimum wage act could affect Arizona businesses this dramatically.

“I think they’re looking to point fingers in this economic downturn,” Kennedy said.

———

Arizona Minimum Wage Act

— Approved: 2006

— Key Provision: Adjusts the minimum wage each January based on the federal Consumer Price Index.

— State Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour as of January.

— Federal Minimum Wage: $6.55 per hour, rising to $7.25 in July.

Including one in Cananea, 170 miles from Tucson

MEXICO CITY – A major labor dispute threatened to break out on the eve of President Obama’s visit to Mexico, as union protesters blockaded a port after the government authorized the firing of workers at the country’s largest copper mine.

In a decision announced Wednesday, a federal labor arbitration board gave Grupo Mexico SAB the green light to dismiss workers who have been on strike at Cananea and two other mines since July 2007.

Angry union employees blocked shipping facilities in the Pacific port city of Lazaro Cardenas, where the miners’ syndicate also represents workers at a nearby steel plant.

The union said no shipments were being allowed in or out, but a port employee who was not authorized to be quoted by name said only one gate was affected and cargo was still moving through.

Striking miners at Cananea are seeking a 10 percent pay raise and improved health and safety conditions. They are also demanding the government recognize their organization’s secretary-general, who fled to Canada after being charged with misappropriation of funds in 2006. The union denies the charges.

All but 300 of the mine’s 1,600 workers are union, and Grupo Mexico says the stoppage has made the mine “impossible to operate.” The company complained that the mine has suffered serious deterioration during the nearly two-year-old strike.

The arbitration board agreed. It ordered Grupo Mexico to pay any fired workers three months’ salary plus 12 days’ pay for each year of employment.

SEATTLE – Some former Seattle Post-Intelligencer writers and photographers have launched an online newspaper, nearly a month after their publication closed.

The Web site, seattlepostglobe.org, went live Tuesday afternoon, featuring pictures and stories about the Seattle Mariners’ home opener and the race for city attorney.

The nonprofit venture by the former P-I staffers has partnered with the Seattle Weekly, which is owned by Village Voice Media, and with public television station KCTS.

Kery Murakami, one of the organizers of the new venture, said the Seattle Weekly will take care of selling advertising for the Web site, while KCTS serves as the fiscal sponsor. The station is also providing office space.

Articles written by seattlepostglobe.org staffers will also appear in the Seattle Weekly’s blog, Murakami said.

In March, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its last edition after 146 years. More than 130 staffers lost their jobs. A skeleton crew of 20 stayed on to work at seattlepi.com. It’s the first major U.S. daily paper to switch from print to digital, a step that the P-I’s parent company, Hearst Corp., took after it failed to find a buyer for the newspaper.

Murakami said that the new Web site has not raised enough money to pay its writers, and that volunteers built the site. He hopes to collect enough revenue to pay writers soon. The Web site is asking for donations from the public.

“The main reason why we are doing this, we felt that the work we were doing at the P-I was important and there’s a real need for it,” Murakami said.

The Web site announced that it will have one reporter covering City Hall, and feature stories and commentary from other Seattle Post-Intelligencer veterans on general news and sports.

Employers can keep experienced personnel while cutting costs

Once, the term furlough conjured an image of a sailor on the town or a model prisoner rewarded with a visit home.

These days, a furlough has taken on a new meaning as an unwelcome, unpaid vacation.

This year, 11 percent of 245 large companies have furloughed workers and another 10 percent have asked for volunteers, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a management consultant. Another 6 percent plan to roll out furloughs over the next 12 months.

“In some ways, it’s a good sign,” said Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. “Employers are retaining the people who know the business, so they will be there when the economy comes back.”

Furlough has its roots in the Dutch word verlof, describing a leave from military service.

Today’s interpretation sprang from the need for businesses and governments to cut costs quickly, while preserving personnel.

Manufacturers have long used furloughs, sending home workers when orders were slow or plants needed to be updated.

“They were written into contracts as to when workers could expect them and how long it would be before they were called back,” said Janice Fine, an assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University.

This year, with the country in a stubborn recession, white-collar workers are getting a taste.

“As they see their colleagues get laid off, more employees are willing to take furloughs without complaint,” said Michael Homans, a Cherry Hill, N.J., labor and employment lawyer. “They understand that their employers need to cut costs.”

Gannett Co. Inc. – which publishes 85 daily newspapers, including the Tucson Citizen, more than 850 magazines and other nondailies and has 23 television stations in the U.S. – sliced $20 million from the payroll with one-week furloughs in the first quarter for all employees. Gannett announced a second one-week furlough for the second quarter.

Arizona has included furloughs as a way to help cut costs. The city of Tucson and the University of Arizona also are mandating unpaid leave for employees as a cost-cutting measure.

With the jobless rates skyrocketing across the nation, workers who are missing paychecks might take consolation in keeping their jobs. But that won’t help to pay the bills, said Shawn Ludwig, a staff representative for the Communication Workers of America.

“Everybody understands the economy is tough and we’re in this together,” he said. “But this is about putting bread on the table. It’s about paying for day care.”

Kirschner said keeping people working is good business.

“If it’s at all possible to hold onto the people with experience and expertise, employers should do it,” he said. Furloughs benefit employees who might otherwise be laid off. But they help businesses, too, enabling employers to conserve cash in the short term, without the costs of severance.

“Profits increase when you generate revenue at less cost,” Homans said.

Drawbacks include overtime expenses when employees on the job aren’t able to handle the workload. A company also might not be able to deliver a product in a timely manner.

In theory, furloughs help companies keep the brightest and the best in the fold.

But Homans said there’s always a risk the go-getters will use their time off to go get another job.

“Granted, there aren’t as many places to go,” he said. “But there are still employees who will jump for better pay.”

As furloughs become more common, employees are voicing concerns about workers at the bottom of the pay scale who are hit harder by a missed payday.

Companies that are straightforward in addressing the hardships associated with furloughs will fare better in the long haul, he said.

“Management can forge lasting relationships with employees based on the way they handle these hard times,” he said.

Circuit City employees gather outside the Union Square electronics store as it closes on the final day of business Sunday, March 8, 2009 in New York. The chain closed 567 stores nationwide, leaving more than 34,000 employees jobless.

RICHMOND, Va. – Circuit City Stores Inc. hopes to sell its brand, trademarks and e-commerce business to Systemax Inc., the same company that purchased electronics retailer CompUSA’s intellectual property when it closed in 2008.

Richmond-based Circuit City, also a shuttered electronics retailer, has entered a so-called stalking horse agreement with Systemax for $6.5 million, according to bankruptcy court filings. A stalking horse bid is an initial offer for a bankrupt company’s assets from an interested buyer chosen by the company.

The agreement includes two and one-half years of payments to Circuit City of a portion of Systemax’s revenue from the Circuit City Web site.

Port Washington, N.Y.-based Systemax manufactures and sells consumer electronics online, by direct mail and in retail stores under the TigerDirect and CompUSA brands. When it bought Dallas-based CompUSA’s intellectual property in January 2008 from restructuring firm Gordon Brothers Group LLC, it also acquired some stores.

Other companies will have an opportunity to bid on Circuit City’s intellectual property, if a federal bankruptcy court judge at a hearing Tuesday grants a motion for a May 11 auction and May 13 sale hearing.

Court filings show about 40 interested parties looked into buying the assets.

Richard L. Kaye, executive vice president of Northbrook, Ill.-based retail consulting and liquidation firm Hilco Merchant Resources LLC said Hilco and its joint venture partner Gordon Brothers still “have a very active interest” in acquiring the Circuit City assets and plan to participate in the auction.

Circuit City closed its 567 remaining U.S. stores on March 8. It has laid off about 34,000 workers since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November. A small staff remains at the corporate office.

The company, which posted losses in seven of its final eight quarters, sought bankruptcy protection as it faced heightened competition, pressure from vendors and waning consumer spending.

It had hoped to emerge this summer as a stronger and more competitive company, but the hobbled credit market and consumer spending cuts proved insurmountable.

Giffords

The federal stimulus money intended for Arizona could create or save 70,000 jobs over the next two years, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said Wednesday during her state of the district presentation.

The $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will offer local help, Giffords, a Democrat, told about 200 people attending the luncheon event.

“We’re talking about 8,000 jobs in southeast Arizona,” she said.

That would be good news for Arizona, where the unemployment rate has been inching closer to 10 percent with each monthly jobs report announcement.

“In Arizona last year, every single day about 220 people were told they no longer had a paycheck,” Giffords said.

“Last year, one out of every 198 homes in the state received a foreclosure notice,” she said. “Here in Pima County that translates into almost 25 foreclosures every single day.”

The federal stimulus package calls for funding to increase the nation’s capacity for generating power from solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources, she said. Arizona’s abundant sunshine should make the state a magnet for such business growth, she said.

The stimulus package, 40 percent of which comes from tax cuts, is not expected to have an immediate impact.

“The hope is that by the end of 2009 we will have hit the bottom and be on the way back up,” Giffords said.

“But if 2009 is truly terrible, as opposed to just bad, we may need to do more,” she said.

Results for efforts to boost education, new alternative energy businesses and other economic areas will be examined and programs refined if necessary, she said.

“We need to stand back and evaluate what is working,” she said.

The economic crisis has pushed issues important to residents in Giffords’ 8th Congressional District – such as border security – to the back burner, she said.

“I haven’t forgotten about it,” Giffords said. “It’s still being discussed but it is not a top priority.”

A spate of drug-related border violence, including 7,000 homicides in Mexico, is pushing the issue back to the forefront, Giffords said.

“The most contentious part of this is what we do with the 12 million to 14 million people who are here (illegally),” she said.

She said documentation of illegal entrants should be mandatory, they should be required to pay back taxes and fines, and must not jump to the front of the line ahead of people who have been waiting to acquire documentation to come to this country legally.