Insurance protest targets Windstream
Members of the Communications Workers of America union demonstrated Wednesday outside Windstream Holdings Inc. headquarters in Little Rock in protest of the company's shift to a health insurance plan with higher deductibles.
Roughly 50 union members from Little Rock, Dallas, Texarkana, Nebraska and Oklahoma gathered in the afternoon at the entry of Windstream's campus, 4001 N. Rodney Parham Road.
They held signs that said, "Windstream your attack on employee health care is a sick idea" and "Corporate greed has got to stop." Union members, some of whom are Windstream employees, also handed fliers to employees entering or leaving headquarters.
Windstream is offering a new health insurance plan that includes deductibles as high as $6,300 for a single employee and $12,600 for an employee with family coverage, according to the news release from Communications Workers of America.
-- Jessica Seaman
N.Y.: Barclays to pay $150M, fire exec
ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York regulators say the British bank Barclays will pay a $150 million penalty and fire an executive for misconduct related to its automated electronic foreign-exchange trading.
The state Department of Financial Services says the misconduct concerns Barclays' "Last Look" system, and the bank has fired its global head of electronic fixed-income, currencies and commodities automated flow trading.
Regulators say Barclays used the system in certain instances to automatically reject client orders that would be unprofitable for the bank because of subsequent price swings during milliseconds-long hold periods.
Barclays says the settlement, primarily for internal systems and control failures, concerns trading from 2009-2014 and the penalty will be reflected in its fourth-quarter results.
In May, the bank settled with U.S. and New York authorities an enforcement case related to spot foreign-exchange trading for $2.4 billion.
-- The New York Times
Ford-UAW pact in doubt after votes of no
Ford Motor Co.'s proposed four-year U.S. labor contract, which includes across-the-board raises, is in danger of being rejected after union members voted it down by a ratio of almost 2-to-1 at big factories in Kentucky and Missouri.
Jimmy Settles, the United Auto Workers vice president in charge of negotiating with Ford, held an unusual news conference Wednesday at Ford's largest union local in Dearborn, Mich., to try to get out the yes vote. Local 600 represents about 8,200 workers, including about 4,300 at the plant that assembles Ford's aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup, the automaker's top-selling and most profitable vehicle.
The push for passage comes after workers turned down the deal at two light-truck factories in Louisville, Ky.; another F-150 plant near Kansas City, Mo.; and two engine facilities in Ohio. The ratification vote appears evenly split, according to an unofficial tally by the Detroit News. With auto sales booming, expectations were high for Ford workers, who got the richest of the tentative contracts the UAW negotiated this fall with their company, General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.
-- Bloomberg News
Canadian Pacific details bid for U.S. line
Canadian Pacific said it expects to deliver a premium approaching 60 percent to Norfolk Southern shareholders with its cash-and-stock offer to combine the two North American railroad operators.
The Calgary, Alberta, company filled in some financial details Wednesday for a deal it outlined broadly a day earlier. Its target, Norfolk Southern, had given its offer a lukewarm reception late Tuesday, saying that the parts -- $46.72 in cash and a portion of Canadian Pacific shares -- added up to a premium of less than 10 percent in relation to Norfolk Southern's trading price.
Shares of the Norfolk, Va., company closed at $86.97 on Tuesday and have climbed nearly 9 percent since media reports of a possible deal surfaced earlier this month. The stock jumped $5.52, or 6.4 percent, to close Wednesday at $92.49.
The possible deal is surfacing as railroads face pressure from the tumbling price of coal, with more utilities using natural gas. Norfolk Southern's coal revenue dropped 23 percent to $482 million during the third quarter. The company has taken roughly 300 miles of track primarily used for coal out of service over the past 18 months in response to the lower volume.
-- Bloomberg News
Univision, too, offers streaming service
NEW YORK -- Univision is the latest media company to offer a streaming service as it prepares for an initial public offering.
Following in the footsteps of HBO, CBS and Showtime, broadcast networks Univision and UniMás can now be streamed for $6 a month or $60 a year.
The new service, called Univision Now, is geared toward people who want to watch on their phones, computers and tablets. One also would be able to watch shows on a TV through Apple's AirPlay, which enables beaming from an iPhone or iPad to the screen.
The media company with a huge Hispanic audience announced its IPO in July. But TV watchers are increasingly moving online, causing volatility in the shares of media companies. Univision and UniMás are already available as part of a $5 add-on pack on Sling TV, Dish Network's online mini-bundle.
-- The Associated Press
Keystone effort pulls Nebraska route bid
LINCOLN, Neb. -- The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline has withdrawn its application for route approval through Nebraska, but a spokesman said the Canadian company reserves the right to reapply.
TransCanada made the announcement Wednesday, a day before it was to appear before the Nebraska Public Service Commission for a planning conference.
Before President Barack Obama rejected a federal permit for the project, Nebraska had been a major roadblock because of lawsuits filed by landowners and environmental groups.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 11/19/2015