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Briefing
Verizon, unions continue talks
Verizon Communications and two telephone unions wrestled over required overtime and job security Saturday as they sought to reach a contract that would end a week-old strike in Eastern states. Communications Workers of America, the larger of the two striking unions, reported little progress on points it said were most critical to its members: forced overtime, the shifting of work to cheaper areas and what the unions call oppressively stressful conditions for customer-service representatives. "If the company comes ready to work these out, we can reach a settlement," said CWA spokesman Candice Johnson. She said unrealistic call quotas and sales objectives have put undue pressure on employees.UAL hit by flight delays
The flight delays and cancellations that have plagued UAL Corp.'s United Airlines this summer have taken their toll on mail service, the U.S. Postal Service said Friday. Last week, heavy flight cancellations on domestic routes caused one- to two-day delays in mail service, said Postal Service spokesman Al DeSarro. United trimmed its schedule and made other adjustments, and the Postal Service made changes as well that returned the schedule to near normal this week, he said. "Whenever we have a situation like this, we work a lot with other airlines and alternative transportation like surface transportation," Mr. DeSarro said. From Aug. 1 through Thursday, 13% of United flights were canceled, the company said. Hundreds of U.S. domestic flights are canceled daily due to weather, mechanical problems, air traffic control issues and other reasons, but United has been by far the worst performer in recent months. Value America files for bankruptcy
Value America Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to shut down its online retailing operations to focus on electronic services. The move marks one of the most-significant failures yet of a dot-com retailer. Other failed sites, such as Boo.com and Toysmart.com, were well known but had yet to go public. Value America said it has terminated 185 employees involved in its retailing operations. The filing was made in federal bankruptcy court for the western district of Virginia. The company said it plans to reorganize as an electronic services business. In a statement, the company said "it has become apparent that the prospect for near-term profitability of a company engaged exclusively in the retail side of the electronic commerce industry is not assured." Value America was a pioneer in Internet retailing, at one time selling a wide variety of items, from ice-cream sandwiches to CD players. -- (Reuters & Agencies) Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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