At Large: ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ loses another great voice | 4D
Business&Money
S U N D A Y , J U L Y 14 , 2013
SECTION D
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
-TALK Last telegram in India goes out on Monday
On Monday, the state-run Indian telecommunications company will send its fi nal telegram, closing a 163-year-old service that fast became a relic in an age of email, reliable landlines and ubiquitous cellphones. The fact that the telegram survived this long is a testament to how deeply woven it is into the fabric of Indian society. Just 30 years ago, the telegram was king in India. But the service has lost $250 million in just the last seven years as national cellphone subscriptions hit 867 million in April.
Carl Icahn makes bid in battle for Dell NEW YORK | Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is proposing that Dell shareholders get a chance to own a bigger stake in the struggling computer maker in hopes of thwarting an attempt by the company’s founder to buy it for $24.4 billion and take it private. Icahn, who owns a nearly 9 percent stake in Dell, now wants shareholders to receive warrants in addition to the cash he previously offered. Icahn previously proposed that Dell “self-tender” 1.1 billion shares of its stock for $14 per share. His revised proposal adds one warrant for every four shares. The warrant would give shareholders the right to buy one Dell share for $20 over the next seven years. Dell’s shares haven’t traded above $20 since September 2008. In a letter to shareholders, Icahn values his counterproposal at about $15.50 to $18 per share. Meanwhile, Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners have offered to buy the entire company for $13.65 per share. Shareholders are set to vote on that offer at a meeting Thursday.
Murdoch’s News Corp. to leave East London LONDON | Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is leaving the east London location whose name has become synonymous with the revolution which the magnate brought to Britain’s media. In a statement released Friday the New York-based fi lm, television and publishing conglomerate said it was pulling its U.K. newspapers from their base in Wapping, an east London former industrial area, to a new home in the shadow of The Shard, the capital’s tallest skyscraper. Wapping became the scene of one of the most bitter industrial disputes in recent British history when Murdoch moved his newspaper operation there from its traditional home on London’s Fleet Street in 1986. The surprise move weakened Britain’s once-powerful printing unions and laid the foundation for a modernized U.K. newspaper industry. News Corp. said the move will begin next year.
Poles rejects kosher slaughter as cruel
WA RSAW, P OL A ND | The Polish parliament’s lower house has voted to reject a government plan to reinstate the religious slaughter of animals. Lawmakers rejected the divisive issue in a 222-178 vote Friday as 38 members of the ruling Civic Platform party joined the opposition to vote against it. Until January, Poland was making good business exporting kosher and halal meat to Israel and Muslim countries, but religious slaughter was banned under pressure from animals rights groups, which say it causes unnecessary suffering because the livestock a re not st unned before being killed. The government argues the ban means a loss of money and 6,000 jobs at a time when around 13 percent of Poles are unemployed. The Conference of European Rabbis condemned the vote, calling it a sad day for Polish and European Jews.
STAFF ILLUSTRATION | ANTHONY BRATINA
UAW targets Mer Mercedes workers By Patrick Rupinski Business Editor
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eb Johnson went to work for Mercedes-Benz in Vance 16 years ago, shortly after its fi rst vehicle rolled off the assembly line. “Back then, the plant was making just 16 vehicles,” said Johnson who works a late-night third shift. Since then, the plant has more than doubled in size, seen additional investments by Mercedes in the billions of dollars and has made more than 1 million vehicles. It also has added models, with more on the way. But it also hit some rough spots along the way, including a major reduction of workers during the Great Recesssion. Employment has since risen and more vehicles are rolling off the line. During good times or bad, Mercedes is a good place to work, said Johnson, who describes herself as a grandma who speaks her mind. One thing on her mind lately is the United Auto Workers effort to unionize the plant. “I don’t see any need for a union,” she said. “I am not a spokesman for the company, I just speak for myself and I don’t see how it will do us any good.” George Jones also has worked at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International for 16 years, and Jim Spitzley has been there for 17 years. Unionization is on
their minds, too. They are among the Mercedes employees trying to convince co-workers to sign cards calling for a union election. Backing their effort are the United Auto Workers and IG Metall, the union that represents Mercedes workers in the automaker’s home country of Germany. For the past few months, both sides have been talking to workers at Vance. And Spitzely said he thinks the effort is picking up steam and will result in a petition for a union election within the next few months. This is the third attempt by the UAW to unionize the Vance plant since in opened in 1997, and most agree it is the most intense and highprofi le effort yet. Gov. Robert Bentley last month said publicly that he does not believe there is a need for a union at Mercedes and said he did not think it would happen. And Dara Longgrear, executive director of the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority, which recruits manufacturers and helps existing manufacturers expand plants in Tuscaloosa County, said a union at Mercedes — one of the state’s largest manufacturers with about 3,000 workers, could dramatically hurt efforts to bring more manufacturing plants and jobs to the state. “It would be a tremendous blow for what people like me work for — for what I have worked for for 35 years.
WHAT’S HAPPENING The UAW is trying to organize hourly workers at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance. ■ The Process: Mercedes-Benz U.S. International employees favoring a union are trying to get co-workers to sign cards calling for a union vote. If at least 30 percent of employees sign the cards, the organizers can petition the National Labor Relations Board to schedule an election. A majority of workers voting in an NLRB-monitored secret-ballot election would have to vote the union for it to be certified. ■ The Uncertainty: Some say the organizers won’t file a petition with the NLRB unless they get 65 to 80 percent of the hourly workers to sign cards because they know when it comes to an election, some of the signers will change their mind. ■ The Politics: Employers can voluntarily recognize a union without an election when more than 50 percent of the hourly workers sign cards asking for a union election. The NLRB said few employers do that. There is fear among some that President Barack Obama’s nominees to the NLRB could change the rules and certify a union based on a majority simply signing cards. The Obama nominations are stalled in the U.S. Senate but could come up for vote this month, which could change the makeup of the NLRB. The Alabama Legislature recently enacted a law calling for secret-ballot elections in all union votes, but federal law trumps state laws, which adds more uncertainty to the equation. ■ The Websites: Mercedes employees who favor and oppose unionization are encouraging co-workers to go to websites for more information. Websites are uawvance.org for pro-union information and 888-no-union. com for information opposing a union.
That’s recruiting industries with good-paying jobs,” said Longgrear, who was part of the team that convinced Mercedes executives to build their fi rst U.S. automotive plant in Vance 20 years ago. “Alabama is almost on a roll now,” he said. “We are an established pres-
ence in the automotive industry and also will be doing the same pretty soon in aerospace. “This would do untold damage to those efforts,” said Longgrear who said he was speaking for himself and not his board members. SEE UNION | 3D
Technology likely to alter the old-fashioned bank By Arielle Kass
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As more people do their banking on computers, tablets and mobile devices, trips to the local bank branch are increasingly rare. Still, convenient branch access remains the top reason that people select a bank. Many banks are therefore in the midst of a balancing act when it comes to their branches. They’re juggling how to create a network that deals with the realities of less frequent use, while also keeping enough stores to maintain the ubiquity and prestige of the neighborhood bank. T hey’re questioning how the old neighborhood bank co-exists with ever-more technology. Different banks are making different choices, but all expect that the way people are used to seeing their branch will change. “If we can put a branch in their briefcase, then we don’t need to have an office on every corner,” said Mike Fitzgerald, executive vice president and chief revenue and deposit officer at State Bank & Trust in Atlanta. “We
don’t need you to come to us for anything.” Still, Fitzgerald said, anyone who says that the bank branch is dead is short-sighted. So banks are experimenting with a variety of options, many in combination. They’re adding ATMs with video screens, letting customers talk to live tellers from afar. The video tellers are more efficient, and allow banks to stay open later. They’re personalizing ATMs, to help customers track their withdrawals. They’re installing large, touch-screen devices, or sending bankers in front of the counter, armed with tablet computers to help customers navigate the new technology. And they’re redesigning the space itself, to make branches smaller and better use the space. Certain customers prefer to do their banking in person. And there are some tasks — like opening an account — that people overwhelmingly do at a branch, even if they’re given the option to do it online. That’s because before people trust someone with their money, they want to interact with them in person, said
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Keith Hardy, a branch manager at PNC bank, shows customer Mari Fridenmaker details on accounts by using an iPad in Atlanta.
Steve Reider, president of Bancography, a bank consulting fi rm. But once people open an account, they’re not inclined to spend much time at the bank, he said. The median number of transactions at a bank has
declined by 26 percent in the past five years. In 2007, there was an average of 10,200 transactions in a branch each month, Reider said. In 2012, that number was 7,600. SEE BANK | 3D