■ TiresMichelin satisfies labor
Michelin & Cie, Europe's largest tiremaker, reached a tentative labor agreement with the union representing 4,400 workers at its BFGoodrich plants in the US and Canada. The United Steelworkers of America must still ratify the agreement covering plants in Tuscaloosa and Opelika, Alabama; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Kitchener, Ontario, the tiremaker said in a statement. Agreement details won't be disclosed upon its ratification, the company said in a statement, and both spokeswoman Karen Gordon and spokesman Christian Flathman declined to comment on agreement specifics. The 1,000 Canadian workers had been on strike since June 1, Gordon said in an interview. Michelin was seeking lifetime caps on health-care benefits for retirees while workers, paid about C$23 (US$16.90) an hour, and the company were "far apart'' on wages, the Globe reported in June.
■ Airlines
BA averts a major strike
British Airways Plc, Europe's second-biggest airline, reached a pay accord with unions, averting a planned strike during the Aug. 27-30 holiday weekend by 11,000 baggage handlers and check-in staff. Workers will receive a ?1,000 (US$1,820) bonus, plus a pay raise equal to inflation over the next three years, British Airways spokesman Paul Parry said in an interview. The agreement came during talks with the GMB and Transport & General Workers unions at the airline's headquarters near London Heathrow airport. "This agreement should now bring the period of stability for BA that the company was looking for," said T&G union spokesman Andrew Dodshon. The unions had planned to strike for 24 hours on Aug. 27 unless an agreement was reached.
■ Banking
Daiei to discuss rescue
Daiei Inc, a Japanese retailer that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may bid for, will discuss rehabili-tation plans that include a request for financial aid with top executives of its main lenders, Daiei's president said. Under the plans, Daiei, Japan's third-largest retailer, may halve its debt, now almost US$9.8 billion, by the end of February, a year earlier than originally planned, President Kunio Takagi told reporters outside his home in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. The company's main lenders, including UFJ Holdings Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc, after two bailouts want the retailer to apply for aid from Japan's government-backed corporate revival agency, a step Daiei has refused to take. "We have no choice but to ask for financial support" from those three banks, Takagi said.
■ Bonds
Bank Austria leads sale
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation's second-largest lender, and Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG sold bonds in Europe this week as sales slumped to the lowest this year, helping hold corporate bond yields at a four-year low. Companies sold US$1.9 billion in pounds and euros so far this week, compared with US$2.1 billion last week, according to Bloomberg data. The weekly average for the year so far in Europe is US$13.6 billion. Sales plunged as companies cut debt, helping them complete funding programs earlier and keeping borrowing costs at their lowest since 2000. The extra yield, or spread, investors demand to hold European investment-grade corporate bonds rather than government debt was little changed at 0.48 percentage points this week, according Merrill Lynch & Co's EMU Corporate Index.
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