In brief: Kaiser, Steelworkers renew union contract
Kaiser Aluminum Corp. and the Spokane Valley and Newark, Ohio, locals of the United Steelworkers of America have renewed a five-year contract that will expire Oct. 1, 2015.
The pact ratified Wednesday by the 665 members of Local 338, who work at Kaiser’s Trentwood rolling mill, extends existing benefits and work rules and repeats the wage hikes of the previous contract, said Local 338 President Dan Wilson.
Workers will receive 2.5 percent wage hikes the first two years of the contract and 3 percent increases in each of the last three years, he said.
“This is good for Kaiser, good for the Steelworkers,” Wilson said, especially in a national economy struggling to emerge from recession.
Kaiser Chairman Jack Hockema, praising the workers’ contributions to the company’s success, said, “We look forward to maintaining our long-term relationship with the United Steelworkers as we continue to be a supplier of choice.”
About 160 Steelworkers are employed at the Newark plant.
Bert Caldwell
Northern Lights raises power rates
Sagle, Idaho – Northern Lights Inc. has raised electric rates by 2.5 percent for the cooperative’s 14,000 members in North Idaho and Montana.
The rate hike, which took effect in late December, is the first in six years, according to the co-op’s board of directors. Additional revenue from the hike is needed to offset a 7 percent increase in wholesale power costs from the Bonneville Power Administration, the board said.
The hike translates into a $2.20 increase in monthly rates for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each month.
Staff report
Hecla starts new year with cash on hand
Hecla Mining Co. ended 2009 with more than $100 million in cash, after higher metals prices coincided with record silver production at the 119-year-old company.
Hecla produced nearly 11 million ounces of silver last year, in addition to record amounts of lead and zinc. The company was able to pay off $38 million in debt during the fourth quarter from an earlier purchase of the Greens Creek Mine in Alaska, and it still closed out the year with more than $100 million in cash on hand, said Phil Baker, Hecla’s president and CEO.
Staff report
GE outlook brighter after dismal 2009
Fairfield, Conn. – General Electric Co.’s fourth-quarter net income fell 19 percent, but the industrial bellwether is seeing signs of stability as it moves into a key rebuilding year.
GE, one of the world’s largest companies, said that orders improved late in the year in its businesses that supply equipment like turbines for power plants and sonogram machines for hospitals. Its profit decline was smaller than previous quarters even though the company’s big lending unit still weighed on earnings.
Results beat Wall Street forecasts for the conglomerate, which is coming off one of the worst years in its 117-year history.
“The world we look at has improved,” GE CEO Jeff Immelt told analysts in a conference call following the earnings results on Friday. That optimism sent shares up 29 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $16.31 in afternoon trading.
For the quarter, GE posted net income of $2.94 billion, or 28 cents per share. That compared with $3.65 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier. Analysts expected 26 cents per share in earnings.
Associated Press