Alaska, attendants reach tentative deal

Alaska Airlines and the union representing nearly 2,500 of its flight attendants said Wednesday they had reached a tentative settlement on a four-year contract.

Terms were not disclosed pending ratification, a process the airline and union expect to wrap up by late April.

The deal comes eight months after the Association of Flight Attendants rejected an agreement reached in May 2005.

The union represents more than 46,000 flight attendants at 21 airlines, including 2,480 at Alaska, a subsidiary of Seattle-based Alaska Air Group.

Since last summer, the Alaska has settled contracts with its pilots, dispatchers and aircraft mechanics. It has yet to settle contracts with about 600 ramp service workers, which include baggage handlers, and some 2,800 clerical, office and passenger service employees.

■DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group said Wednesday it will change its health care plan for active and retired salaried employees to require those who earn more to pay more in premiums, hoping to address rising health care costs.

Chrysler said that beginning in 2007, every active salaried employee’s health care pre-tax premium increase would be based on their rank and base salary level. Top executives would be responsible for up to 100 percent of their premiums.

•Motorola Inc. added to its share of the global cell-phone market in the first quarter, according to a Motorola executive.

The Schaumburg, Ill., maker of handsets divides the world into five parts: North America, Latin America, Europe, North Asia, and the emerging markets — Africa, Southeast Asia through Australia. The company gained share in all of those regions, said Ron Garriques, who heads up Motorola’s mobile devices division, Wednesday during an analyst conference hosted by Deutsche Bank and carried over the Internet.

•Chemicals maker DuPont Co. said Wednesday it plans to cut 1,500 jobs and close four facilities in Europe in a restructuring of its performance coatings business and raised its overall earnings outlook. Its shares rose nearly 3 percent.

DuPont officials said the restructuring, which will take about 18 months to complete, will reduce annual costs by about $165 million. The Wilmington-based company anticipates taking a pretax charge up to $165 million in the first quarter.