Bush rejects quotas on Chinese steel

Crawford, Texas President Bush on Friday rejected a request to place quotas on steel pipe imported from China, saying the cost to American consumers would outweigh the benefit to domestic producers.

U.S. pipemakers and a labor group, which strongly condemned the president’s decision, asked the Bush administration to impose the quotas on certain kinds of steel pipe used primarily in construction. They argued that a surge in imports from China was disrupting markets.

The International Trade Commission sided with the companies, and recommended that the president provide them with relief. But Bush rejected that, saying it was not in the best interest of the U.S. economy.

Any relief, he said, would probably be ineffective because steel imports from other countries would probably replace those curtailed from China. If the other countries filled in the gap, import relief would not provide any meaningful benefit to the American businesses affected, he said.

“In addition, imposing import relief would cost U.S. consumers substantially more than the increased income that could be realized by domestic producers,” Bush said in a statement released at his Texas ranch, where he is staying until New Year’s Day.

Tom Conway, international vice president of United Steelworkers, said pipe workers and communities should roundly condemn Bush for not supporting the industry and jobs.

Age of NYSE seat sales nears end

Two New York Stock Exchange “seats” were sold Friday, as the era of memberships as tradable investments drew to a close.

The NYSE is buying electronic-trading company Archipelago Holdings Inc. in a deal that will transform the 213-year-old Big Board into a publicly traded company. The transaction entitles holders of the 1,366 NYSE seats, which allow holders to do business on the exchange floor, to a combination of cash and stock in the new company.

While the Archipelago deal isn’t scheduled to close until January, the NYSE set 5 p.m. EST Friday as the deadline for buying and selling the seats.

The two sales Friday were each for slightly less than $3.6 million. That’s down slightly from the record $4 million that several seats fetched earlier this month, but it’s well above the $975,000 that a seat went for in January, a multiyear low.

Northwest Airlines mechanics reject pact

Minneapolis Mechanics at Northwest Airlines Corp. voted to remain on strike Friday, a move that will have little impact on the bankrupt airline’s operations.

Leaders of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association lobbied against the company’s latest offer, which would not have brought back any of the 4,400 union members who went on strike Aug. 20.

Of the 2,223 votes cast, 1,258, or 56 percent, of union members rejected the offer while 965, or 43 percent, voted in favor, according to a news release from the union.

Verdict against GM overturned

Lansing, Mich. The Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a $6.2 million age discrimination verdict against General Motors Corp., citing a number of problems in the circuit court case, including incorrectly putting together the claims of two workers.

In a unanimous decision released Friday, the appellate court said the Oakland County Circuit Court should not have lumped into one case the claims of Ellis Ross and Roger Holland, who worked in the paint department of GM’s Orion plant.

The men claimed they were passed over for promotions because of their age.

But the appeals court noted that the two men had different positions, qualifications, seniority and sought different jobs. Ross retired from GM, claiming he could not continue working for the automaker because of discrimination, but Holland continued to work as a manager.

GM said Friday it planned to comment on the decision later in the day.