Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 6:00 pm
ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots voted on Wednesday to approve a 14 percent pay cut in a deal their union worked out with management to help the bankrupt carrier cope with an expected cash crunch.
It’s the second double-digit pay cut the airline pilots have accepted in 13 months.
Delta and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents the Atlanta-based company’s 6,000 pilots, will now try to hammer out a comprehensive agreement by March. If not, the sides have agreed to let the decision be made by a three-person arbitration panel.
Rank-and-file pilots will see their average salary of roughly $170,000 reduced to about $146,000. The pilots also would give up other pilot pay and cost items equal to an additional 1 percent hourly wage reduction.
S&P 500 makes changes
NEW YORK — Standard & Poor’s said Tuesday it will include both companies that now comprise media conglomerate Viacom Inc., along with natural-foods supermarket chain Whole Foods Market Inc. in its benchmark 500 index.
The credit rating and investment research firm said CBS Corp. and the “new” Viacom Inc. will replace the current Viacom and auto-parts supplier Visteon Corp. on the S&P 500.
Viacom is separating into two publicly traded companies — CBS Corp., which will contain the CBS network, a group of affiliated TV stations and the Infinity radio broadcaster; and another company, which will keep the Viacom name and include MTV, VH1, several other cable networks and the Paramount movie studio.
The selections leave out Google Inc., one of the companies with the highest market capitalizations not included in the index. Many analysts expect S&P to add the Mountain View, Calif.-based search-engine giant — with a market cap of more than $125 billion — at some point. Google went public in August 2004, and has seen its shares soar above $400 from an IPO price of $85.
Marriott timeshare unit loses customers' personal data
ORLANDO, Fla. — The timeshare unit of Marriott International Inc. is notifying more than 200,000 people that their personal data are missing after backup computer tapes went missing from a Florida office.
The data relates to 206,000 employees, timeshare owners and timeshare customers of Marriott Vacation Club International, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The computer tapes were stored in Orlando, where the unit is based.
The company did not say when the tapes disappeared. They contained Social Security numbers, bank and credit card numbers, according to letters the company began sending customers on Saturday.
Over the past year, a series of personal data breaches affected high-profile companies including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and DSW Shoe Warehouse. The incidents have spurred calls for greater security and highlighted the perils of identity theft.
Ex-Qwest exec pleads guilty
DENVER — Former Qwest Communications executive Marc Weisberg pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors trying to convict other company officials of wrongdoing, including former Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio.
Weisberg, a former senior vice president who oversaw investments, mergers and acquisitions for Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc., pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud. He had faced eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
Prosecutors declined comment through U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Jeff Dorschner. Weisberg’s attorneys did not immediately return calls. He faces a March 3 sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors said Weisberg, 48, improperly earned $2.9 million for himself, family members and friends from 1999 to 2001 by demanding that vendors offer them shares in other companies in return for doing business with Qwest, the telephone provider for 14 mostly Western states.
— From wire reports