NEWS IN BRIEF

Friday, February 1, 2013

— Union to back off Wal-Mart protests

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s complaint against a labor union for picketing before the Christmas-shopping season was put on hold by a federal agency after the union agreed to distance itself from the protests.

On Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board said it would dismiss the complaint in six months if the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union complied with commitments made to the agency.

On Nov. 20, Bentonville based Wal-Mart accused the union of threatening to illegally picket at stores ahead of Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The union, representing more than 1.3 million workers in grocery and retail stores and the meatpacking industry, said the protests were intended to improve working conditions.

As part of the agreement, the union must post a notice on a website for Wal-Mart employees saying it is not seeking to organize workers and pledge not to picket or protest a Wal-Mart store for 60 days, according to the labor board’s Office of General Counsel.

Tyson’s profit call, meeting are today

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale will hold its first quarter 2013 earnings call and its annual shareholders meeting today.

The date of the meeting was reported incorrectly in Thursday’s edition.

The earnings call is scheduled for 8 a.m., followed by the shareholders meeting at 10 a.m.

The earnings call can be accessed by calling (888) 455-8283, pass code Tyson Foods.

A telephone replay will be available about one hour after the call through March 1. The replay number is (866) 489-8051.

The call will also be available on a live webcast and for replay at http://ir.tyson.com.

Tyson’s shareholders meeting can be viewed in a live webcast and for replay at the same Web address.

Audio of the meeting can be heard live by calling (888) 455-3619.

No telephone replay will be available for the shareholders meeting.

State index tracks U.S. stocks lower

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 1.93 to 258.66 Thursday.

“U.S. stocks moved lower on Thursday after a larger than-expected rise in jobless claims and some mixed earnings reports,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index fell as nine stocks advanced and seven declined.”

P.A.M. Transportation Services climbed 2.4 percent in light trading.

Volume for the index was 23 million shares, compared with average daily volume of 22.9 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 29 on 02/01/2013