BUSINESS BRIEFS
Former Maui Pine workers get aid
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The federal government will offer job training assistance to 66 Maui Pineapple Co. workers who lost their jobs earlier this year when the company shut down its Kahului cannery.
The workers were certified for assistance under two U.S. Labor Department programs that provide support to workers who lose their jobs because of foreign competition, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.
Maui Pineapple Co. is a subsidiary of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.
"The federal assistance for the laid-off Maui Pineapple workers offers them hope during these especially tough economic times that now engulfs Hawai'i and the rest of our nation," Inouye said.
ADVERTISER-BLOOMBERG INDEX DOWN
The Honolulu Advertiser-Bloomberg Hawaii Index of stocks fell for the seventh time in nine trading days as U.S. stock markets plunged.The index was off 5.3 percent to 79.57 as 10 stocks declined. There were no gainers and only one company, thinly traded Mera Pharmaceuticals, remained unchanged.
Among stocks losing ground were Barnwell Industries, which was off $1.03 to $6.88, a decline of 13 percent.
Maui Land & Pineapple dropped $2.37 to $21.30.
STATE SHARES IN ELI LILLY SETTLEMENT
Hawai'i is among 32 states and the District of Columbia that will share in a $62 million payment by Eli Lilly and Co., which made the payment in resolving an investigation relating to the sales, marketing and promotion of the antipsychotic medication Zyprexa. Lilly said there was no finding that it violated any provision of state laws and that Zyprexa remains available to patients and on formularies for Medicaid programs in all 50 states and Washington."We believe all of the parties involved share an interest in putting this dispute behind us," said Robert A. Armitage, Lilly senior vice president and general counsel, in a news statement.
MESA TRIMS 6.1% OF WORKFORCE
Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent company of interisland carrier go!, said it cut 250 jobs on the Mainland partly because of a terminated contract with Delta Air Lines.About 100 of the positions were at the corporate level, and 150 were pilots, most of whom flew jets for Delta, said Brian Gillman, general counsel for Phoenix-based Mesa.
No further job reductions are planned, Gillman said.
The cuts, 6.1 percent of Mesa's workforce, are related to an agreement under which Mesa's Freedom Airlines unit operated CRJ-900 jets for Delta, Gillman said. Mesa had seven of the 76-seat jets in service, and planned to add seven more next year. The two companies are in a legal dispute over a different accord that covers about a fifth of Mesa's fleet.
Mesa also announced yesterday that it has reached a tentative contract agreement with its pilots union after 10 months of negotiations.
PEEK AT NEW PRODUCTS AT SONY EXPO
Sony will showcase the company's newest high-definition products during its annual Sony Expo at the Ala Moana Hotel next month. The event is free and open to the public.Among the products to be displayed at the Nov. 14-15 event is a Bravia KLV-40ZX1M, a 40-inch flat-panel LCD television that measures just 9.9 millimeters thick. Also on display will be the DSLR Alpha Camera A900, Sony's newest Alpha line digital single lens reflex camera with a resolution of 24.6 megapixels.
