| US: Union says Wal-Mart opposed better US port security by Peter Szekely, Reuters April 5th, 2006 The largest U.S. labor federation accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday of using its lobbying muscle to oppose port safety measures because they would reduce profits. |
| US: Ford owners not told of ways to reduce fuel-tank fire risk by James Polk and Susan Candiotti, CNN January 23rd, 2006 The parents of three sisters burned to death in a rear-end crash are asking Ford Motor Co. to install the same gas tank protective devices in regular models as it did for its police cars. |
| KATRINA: Government overpaid $32 million for Katrina evacuation contract by Leslie Miller, Boston Globe January 20th, 2006 A bill for busing evacuees from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was $32 million more than it should have been, and the government paid it without question, the Transportation Department inspector general said Friday. |
| KATRINA: DOT Audit Probes Katrina Evacuation Fiasco by Tim Sharrock, Reconstruction Watch January 19th, 2006 The fed is looking into contracts for evacuation of New Orleans awarded to the FAA and a transportation company with ties to Bush. Did the agency and the company do anything at all post-Katrina? |
| US: Labor Objects to Executive Bonuses at American Associated Press January 9th, 2006 "It is absolute insanity to pay out seven-figure bonuses at a time when the company is suffering nine-figure losses, mired in eleven-figure debt, and seeking further help from its employees to survive for the long term." |
| JAPAN: An insider's dark view of Toyota by Matt Rusling, Christian Science Monitor January 2nd, 2006 In 1996, Darius Mehri, a wide-eyed young American engineer, went to Japan to work for Toyota's production system. What he found was an abusive environment where the company controlled every movement - inside and outside work - of its employees. |
| US: Seattle jury clears Boeing in racial lawsuit Reuters December 21st, 2005 A federal jury in Seattle on Wednesday cleared Boeing Co. in a lawsuit brought by 4,000 black salaried employees, who claimed they were passed over for promotions because of racial discrimination. |
| US: Airlines Use Unlicensed Contractors by Marilyn Adams, USA Today December 20th, 2005 Major U.S. airlines are using unlicensed, lightly supervised contractors to perform safety-critical work such as replacing jet engines, a new report finds. |
| US: Ford, Reversing Decision, Will Run Ads in Gay Press by Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times December 15th, 2005 Less than two weeks after the Ford Motor Company said it would all but eliminate its advertising in publications that cater to gays, the company reversed itself Wednesday. |
| GERMANY: Auditors Detail VW Corruption in India and Czech Republic Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 11th, 2005 Independent auditors confirmed Friday to Volkswagen's senior board many of the details published in news reports in recent months about corrupt dealings by managers in the car company's personnel department. |
| INDIA: Japanese Investors Learn Indian Labour Laws the Hard Way by Ranjit Devraj, Inter Press Service August 3rd, 2005 Japanese investors in India took a few hard lessons in India's tough labour laws when the automobile giant Honda Motors tamely resumed production at its plant outside the national capital this week, ending three months of labour disputes, including pitched battles between police and agitated workers. |
| UK: Aviation Industry Plans to Reduce Emissions BBC news June 20th, 2005 New targets to reduce the environmental impact of air travel - set to triple over the next 30 years - are being launched by the UK's aviation industry. |
| US: Cleanup Costs for Toxic Gas Additive Could be Billions
by Michael Gardner, Copley New Service June 15th, 2005 Staring at potential payouts in the billions of dollars, the U.S. oil industry is maneuvering to escape responsibility for cleaning up after MTBE, the now-banned toxic gasoline additive that has seeped into drinking water across the country. |
| BRAZIL: Homegrown Fuel Supply Helps Drivers Breathe Easy by Marla Dickerson , L.A. Times June 15th, 2005 Today about 40% of all the fuel that Brazilians pump into their vehicles is ethanol, known here as alcohol, compared with about 3% in the United States. No other nation is using ethanol on such a vast scale. The change wasn't easy or cheap. But 30 years later, Brazil is reaping the return on its investment in energy security while the U.S. writes checks for $50-a-barrel foreign oil. |
| UK: Backlash to Animal Testing Flight Ban Rattles British Airways by Andrew Clark, The Guardian June 6th, 2005 British Airways' decision to stop carrying animals bound for scientific experimentation, which was revealed in the Guardian last week, has delighted anti-vivisection activists who highlight the suffering of mice, monkeys and guinea pigs in transit for laboratories. |
| US: SUV Drivers Reconsider by Oliver Prichard, The Philadelphia Inquirer June 1st, 2005 Some vehicles aren't worth their weight. |
| US: Bicoastal Blues For G.M. and Ford by Danny Hakim, The New York Times April 23rd, 2005 Setting aside its home base in the Upper Midwest, Detroit has a blue state problem -- and it is about to get worse. Washington and Oregon plan to become the 9th and 10th states to adopt California's tough car emissions rules, forming an increasingly potent market for more fuel-efficient vehicles on the West Coast and in the Northeast. |
| US: Honda Offers At-Home Natural-Gas Fill-Ups by Chris Woodyard, USA Today April 21st, 2005 New device offers at-home natural-gas fill-ups |
| US: When Media Dogs Don't Bark by Norman Solomon, AlterNet April 18th, 2005 The recent decision by General Motors to pull its advertising from the Los Angeles Times has not gone over very well. |
| SINGAPORE: Rolls-Royce in Venture to Develop Fuel Cell-Based Power System by Siti Rahil, Kyodo News International April 6th, 2005 Luxury car maker Rolls-Royce plc signed an agreement Wednesday with a Singapore consortium that includes several Singapore government-linked entities to jointly invest US$100 million in a new venture to develop a commercially viable power system based on fuel cell technology. |