BUSINESS BRIEFS
UAW leader pleads for Detroit bailout approval
Advertiser News Services
WASHINGTON — The head of the United Auto Workers made a public plea yesterday for government help for U.S. carmakers as the Big Three put the final touches on stabilization plans to submit to Congress.
"We cannot afford to see these companies fail," said Ron Gettelfinger, the UAW chief, calling on Congress to approve the aid during a special session the week of Dec. 8.
Gettelfinger said a $25 billion rescue plan for the carmakers is "not a bailout, this is a loan — a bridge loan — that will get us through until we can take a longer-term look at exactly what needs to be done in the industry."
Democratic leaders are demanding blueprints from Chrys-ler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. before they will schedule votes on any new federal aid. The plans, due tomorrow, are to be scrutinized at a Senate hearing Wednesday and a House hearing on Friday.
If lawmakers like what they see, Congress may reconvene the following week to consider the auto bailout.
GAS STATIONS GAIN AS PRICES DECLINE
Feeling sorry for gas stations as prices plummet? Don't.
Although retail gasoline prices have fallen 55 percent since mid-July, wholesale prices have plunged even more sharply — 68 percent, according to the Oil Price Information Service. As a result, retailers have enjoyed record profit margins since mid-September.
Ben Brownlow, an analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co., expects even better results for the current quarter.
Most people think retailers clean up when prices rise and get pinched when they drop. It's just the opposite. When prices soared last spring, demand sank and stations couldn't pass along the entire increase in their wholesale costs.
Now, with oil and wholesale gasoline prices tumbling, retailers can trim their prices more gradually. Per-gallon margins hit a record 60 cents on Oct. 7, averaged 45 cents in October and were 30 cents last Sunday, OPIS' Fred Rozell said.
IRAN WANTS OPEC TO CUT PRODUCTION
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state TV says the country's Oil Ministry has proposed an OPEC production cut of 2 million barrels per day.
The cartel is grappling with how to reverse plunging crude prices, but ended a meeting in Cairo Saturday without announcing an output cut, leaving any such decision to its next meeting, in Algeria on Dec. 17.
Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted as saying yesterday that the market was oversupplied by around 2 million barrels per day, and that production should be cut by that amount. That is considerably larger than figures being suggested by analysts and some other OPEC members.
The report also quoted Iran's OPEC governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, as saying "OPEC plans to review a decrease of production at its meeting in Algeria."
DUBAI DEVELOPER CUTS STAFF BY 15%
CAIRO, Egypt — The Dubai state developer building palm tree-shaped islands off the city's coast said yesterday it has cut about 15 percent of its staff amid a work slowdown — the clearest sign yet that the gulf's property boom is hurting from the global economic slump.
Nakheel, which is owned by the emirate's government, said in an e-mailed statement that 500 employees have been laid off and it is scaling back work on some of its most ambitious island-building projects.
Speculation has been growing that Nakheel would be forced to curtail some of its plans even as the company put on a brave face in response to the worldwide slowdown.
Less than two weeks ago, the company's chairman co-hosted a $20 million party to launch its first palm-shaped island and the Atlantis hotel that's on it.
Projects that Nakheel said it is delaying include a hotel being built with Donald Trump on the Palm Jumeirah, the only man-made island project the company has completed.
