Get Loans

Detroit, MI, United States (AHN) – General Motors issued a statement Friday confirming it has completed a contribution of 60.6 million shares of GM common stock to its U.S. hourly and salaried pension plans. The deal is valued at nearly $2 billion.

The contribution completes the estimated $6 billion contribution that was announced in October, consisting of $4 billion in cash and $2 billion in stock.

“We continue to take the steps necessary to lower our risk profile, so our focus can be on designing, building and selling the world’s best vehicles,” said Chris Liddell, GM vice chairman and chief financial officer.

GM U.S. pension plans currently provide benefits to approximately 688,000 participants.

View full post on Labor Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Some 445,000 newly unemployed Americans filed first-time claims for jobless benefits during the week ending Jan. 18, which was an increase of 35,000 over the 410,000 people who filed initial claims the week before, according to the weekly report by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Unemployment stands at 9.6 percent. However, the insured unemployment rate was 3.1 percent for the week ending Jan. 1, the latest week for which those figures are available. That was a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.3 percent. Not all Americans are covered by unemployment compensation insurance.

There were 9,193,838 people claiming benefits in all unemployment compensation programs for the week ending Dec. 25, the latest week for which such figures are available.

Extended benefits were available in 35 states and the District of Columbia for the week ending Dec. 25, unchanged from the week before.

The DOL also reported:

• The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 25, and their percentages were in Alaska (7.5), Oregon (5.2), Idaho (5.1), Montana (4.9), Wisconsin (4.8), Pennsylvania (4.7), Puerto Rico (4.6), Nevada (4.5), Illinois (4.4) and Michigan (4.3).
• The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 1 were in Georgia (+11,997), Michigan (+10,129), Pennsylvania (+9,004), New York (+8,379), and Wisconsin (+7,236)
• The largest decreases were in California (-13,694), Florida (-1,867), Nevada (-972), Kansas (-841), and New Mexico (-721).

View full post on Labor Stories

NY, NY, United States (AHN Sports) – The NFL wants to add two games to the current 16-game format for the regular season, though it could end up with no games at all.

NFL Players Association president Kevin Mawae believes players should be bracing for a lockout and other members of the union’s executive committee believe there may be no avoiding a lockout, especially if the owners don’t budge on their insistence for extra games.

“I believe our players understand the reality of it,” Mawae told TitanInsider. “It’s not like it’s a last-minute thing of , ‘Oh my gosh, this is really gonna happen.’ If they are thinking that way, then shame on them.We’ve spent two years now telling everyone this was a possibility.

The players’ union has advised players to save their money in case of a lockout. Mawae acknowledges that there may have to concessions made, but that has to be the mindset of both sides.

“If they want something like a rookie salary structure in place, then they have to give a little bit,” Mawae said. “If they don’t give a little bit, then it’s probably going to force a lockout. If owners want to draw line in the sand, then they’re probably gonna lock the doors. Players are prepared for that, all while hoping to get a deal done and save the season for next year.”

The players union held a conference call Tuesday and Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita pointed to the extra games the owners want as a major sticking point.

“To me, right now, as things stand, 18 games, the way it’s being proposed, is completely unacceptable. … I see more and more players get injured every season,” Fujita said. “There are so many things now—with player health and safety, and the future of us and our families—that aren’t even being considered. And for us, it’s disappointing. It feels like a slap in the face.”

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth also participated in the conference call and said the health and safety issues the players are facing are far more important that a couple extra games.

“”We put our bodies on the line and produce a lot of revenue and we get five years of post-retirement health insurance,” said Foxworth. “And then they want to tack on two more games which is just going to multiply the injuries and the ailments that we’re going to see after we go into our 40s, 50s, 60s ,70s, if we’re lucky.”

“We’re not willing to budge on health and safety, and we’d like to gain some more ground in ways we can protect former players and current players.”

View full post on Labor Stories

Manila, Philippines (AHN) – The U.S. Military Command has ordered its civilian contractors in Afghanistan to stop hiring Filipino workers and send home those whose job contracts have ended to comply with the Philippine government’s ban on deploying citizens to work in the war-torn country.

Up to 7,000 Filipinos are affected by the order and their jobs will go to other nationalities, according to Filipino recruitment consultant and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani.

U.S. contractors Dyn International LLC and Fluor Intercontinental are to build camps for American troops in Afghanistan and provide the corresponding food, facilities maintenance and other life-support services. Their contracts amount to $5 billion.

Filipinos are scrambling for lucrative jobs in U.S. bases in Afghanistan, attracted by salaries that range from $2,000 to $15,000. To avoid the deployment ban, they first take jobs in Middle Eastern countries and then transfer to Afghanistan once their contracts have ended.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued the deployment ban to Afghanistan because the government in Kabul and labor recruiters cannot guarantee the security and protection of Filipino workers from attacks by insurgents. Groups of Filipino workers, however, oppose the ban and called for its lifting so they can be employed there.

View full post on Labor Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – While High Street retailers report disappointing Christmas sales, supermarkets raked it in during the 2010 yearend holiday.

This year appears to be another banner year for the grocery retailing sector as Britain’s largest supermarkets announced Monday the creation of at least 32,000 jobs as the grocers open more outlets.

Largest supermarket chain Tesco will hire more 9,000 workers as it opens 292 stores this year, while second largest chain Asda will add 184 more outlets and employ 7,500 people, partly because of Asda’s buy-in of Netto, Morrisons will open 19 more stores and create 3,000 more jobs, and Waitrose 39 more outlets.

Sainsbury’s said it will create 6,500 jobs in 2011, part of the 20,000 target the third largest British supermarket chain has set in the next three years as it expands operations in the north, Scotland and Wales.

The new jobs will add to the 2.9 million people already employed by the British retail industry, which is equivalent to 11 percent of the country’s labor force.

The opening spree indicates the resilience of the grocery retailing sector, which is growing at a yearly rate of 3.1 percent and expects to be worth $270 billion (GBP 180 billion) by 2015, according to an industry expert.

However, the new jobs could not make up for the 330,000 public sector jobs to be lost this year because of the austerity measures put in place by the coalition government.

Another sector expected to take a blow in offering employment opportunities is the finance sector. According to a Chamber of British Industries and PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released Monday 30,000 jobs were lost from October to December 2010. It is the fastest pace of job losses in the sector in 17 years.

Another 15,000 workers in the finance sector are expected to become jobless this quarter adding to the 970,000 who have lost work since the onset of the global financial crisis. Just prior to the crisis, employment in the finance sector in Britain hit 1.1 million, but went down below the 1 million mark at the start of 2010 and had not recovered since then.

Despite the sector’s recovery mode, businesses were still laying-off staff to maintain profitability.

View full post on Labor Stories

Detroit, MI, United States (AHN) – Ford announced it will add more than 7,000 new hourly and salaried jobs between this year and next in the U.S. market. The automaker also revealed it will begin by recruiting engineers specializing in electrification at the 2011 North American International Auto Show this week.

This year alone, Ford is adding nearly 4,000 hourly jobs at several of its U.S. plants. Additionally Ford also will add 750 salaried engineering jobs in product development and manufacturing.

“Ford is committed to American manufacturing, and we are on a path to add more than 7,000 American workers over the next two years as we continue to grow our product lineup,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas.

He went on to say, “Working with our partners, including the UAW, Ford is finding competitive ways to engineer and build even more high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles with technologies American consumers really want.”

The company is specifically seeking highly trained engineers specializing in batteries, system controls, software and energy storage to work on electric vehicles.

View full post on Labor Stories

Chicago, IL, United States (AHN) – Retail employment grew nearly 29 percent during the last quarter of 2010 as the sector added 646,300 new jobs while holiday shoppers spent $584 billion.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday that the new hirings from October to December were 144,900 more than in the same quarter last year when 501,400 net new jobs were created.

Global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., reported that October hirings were the heaviest for the month since 2006, with 146,800 new positions created, while December’s 181,900 employment was the largest for the same month since 2005.

Challenger attributed the rise in employment to the positive holiday sales of retailers.

Holiday sales increased 5.5 percent from last year, according to the most recent MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report. Holiday shoppers spent $584 billion, nearly $10 billion more than before the recession, the report said.

If consumer spending persists into the new year, the temporary seasonal workers may be hired permanently, said Challenger CEO John A. Challenger.

View full post on Labor Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Retail industry experts warned Monday that the 2.5 percent increase in value added tax, which took effect Tuesday, will be exploited by merchants to hike the prices of their wares.

Experts estimate cost of goods and even services will go up by about 8 percent, or three times the VAT hike which increase the effective tax rate to 20 from 17.5 percent.

One expert said retailers would likely round up, rather than round down the VAT increase. He justified the move as necessary for retailers to stay profitable because of years of price deflation. Another accounting consultancy said 60 percent of retail managers plan to increase prices by at least 2.1 percent on top of the VAT hike.

Industry analysts forecast memberships in gyms, mobile phone subscription rates, food prices and product prices will go up between 5 to 8 percent, timed with the VAT hike.

As a result of the tax hikes, a British accounting firm estimates that couples with a combined income of $105,000 (GBP 70,000) would increase their yearly spending by $840 (GBP 560). For average families, their bills would rise by $600 (GBP 400) a year.

Labor Party leader Ed Miliband warned that the VAT increase, aimed to reduce the national budget deficit and raise $4.5 billion (GBP 3 billion) a year, would place 250,000 jobs at risk.

One likely casualty of the VAT and price hikes would be the pub industry which estimates 8,800 jobs would be lost as drinking establishments would close since many Britons would probably opt to buy alcoholic beverages from the supermarket and drink at home.

The Center for Retail Research projects that retail sales in Britain would dip by 3.1 percent or $3.3 billion (GBP 2.2 billion) for the first quarter of 2011 because of the VAT increase.

Chancellor George Osborne defended the VAT hike as a necessity to reduce Britain’s debt or the coalition government would be forced to increase spending cuts by $19.5 billion (GBP 13 billion).

View full post on Labor Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Dollar General announced plans Monday to hire 6,000 people in 2011 as the discount retailer opens more than 600 new stores across the country.

The discount retailer plans to open 625 new stores in its ongoing expansion, creating more than 15,000 from 2009 to 2011, reports stated.

In addition to the 35 states where Dollar General already operates, the company will open locations in Connecticut, Nevada and New Hampshire. The retailer also plans to remodel or relocate more than 500 stores.

Shares of the company rose 0.4 percent Monday morning in trading.

View full post on Labor Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – A report released Thursday by the Department for Work and Pensions found that about 1.5 million Britons abused the country’s welfare system the past decade by claiming welfare payments, but refusing work.

According to the report, about 750,000 of them were given sanctions and had their benefits cuts because they refused to follow regulations that would help them get jobs. Another 177,000 got Jobseeker’s Allowance and turned down offers, 444,000 more quit their work voluntarily and filed for Jobseeker’s Allowance and 123,000 were sanctioned because they claimed allowance after they were fired because of misconduct.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said because of these abuses of Britain’s welfare system, the coalition government will impose tougher rules. Among the regulations the government is considering is to introduce fixed-term cuts in benefits beginning at three months and going up to three years for Britons who repeatedly refuse to obey regulations.

Another investigation the DWP initiated is on Britons receiving welfare, but who have moved overseas to warmer countries such as Spain and Thailand, or other western nations such as the U.S. and Sweden.

The department is also running after relatives who claim benefits of dead welfare recipients, those who have unreported assets such as property, savings or even yachts and those with exaggerated disability.

Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud estimated the cost to taxpayers for welfare payments to Britons living overseas at $99 million (GBP 66 million) in 2009.

View full post on Labor Stories