BUSINESS BRIEFS
Verizon, unions reach 3-year deal with wage hikes
Advertiser news services
NEW YORK — Verizon Communications Inc. and two unions representing 65,000 workers who had threatened to strike within hours agreed yesterday on a new three-year contract that provides 10.5 percent wage increases and changes in retirement benefits.
The pact, which must be ratified by union members, was hailed as a "breakthrough agreement" by Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen.
It also extends union recognition to 600 former MCI technicians who had sought it since joining Verizon two years ago, the union said. Verizon said another 900 temporary employees would be regularized.
SMALL-CAR SALES MAY HIT 3 MILLION
Small cars are on track to hit a sales level this year not seen since the 1980s — if automakers can build enough.
Both Ford and General Motors officials say they think that small-car sales could hit 3 million, an increase of about 10 percent compared to last year. Ford sales analyst George Pipas says by his calculation, the closest mark previously was 2.9 million in 1986.
The sales trend is significant because it shows how seriously many motorists are taking the rise in gas prices. It raises questions about whether small-car sales growth can be sustained if fuel costs tumble along with oil.
Small-car sales are currently running 10.9 percent higher than last year through July, says industry tracker Autodata. At the same time, overall sales of all new vehicles declined during the same period by an almost like amount, 10.5 percent.
BEST BUY TO ADD VENDING KIOSKS
CHICAGO — Best Buy Co. Inc. plans to add a dozen vending kiosks inside major airports across the country as part of a new pilot program called "Best Buy Express," company executives said.
The nation's largest consumer electronics retailer is partnering with ZoomSystems, a San Francisco-based vending machine company, for the project that will install the small automated stores at eight airports.
The machines will stock cell phone and computer accessories, along with digital cameras, portable data storage devices, headphones, travel adapters, electronic chargers and other gadgets.
The self-serve kiosks will be installed by Sept. 1 in airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco.
INTEL CHIPS TO GET CORE BRAND NAME
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel Corp. said yesterday it plans to sell its new generation of chips for desktop computers under the established "Core" brand, with the first chips of the new line to be called Core i7.
The microprocessors are based on a design the company has code-named Nehalem and are expected to be in production the last three months of this year. Intel says the new design will deliver high performance and energy efficiency.
Santa Clara-based Intel indicated that the Core name, already used for other chips including the popular Core 2 Duo processor, will be its flagship PC processor brand.
Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of microprocessors with about three-quarters of the worldwide market.
IRAQ, CHINA NEAR $1.2B OIL DEAL
BAGHDAD — Iraq and China are set to revive a $1.2 billion oil deal that was canceled after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraq's oil ministry said yesterday.
An initial agreement with China is expected to be signed at the end of August to develop the billion-barrel Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
The announcement came after a meeting between Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani and China's ambassador to Baghdad.
No further details were released, but if the deal is signed it will be the first Saddam Hussein-era oil deal to be honored by the new Iraqi regime.
