Westin workers ratify three-year contract
PROVIDENCE – Members of Local 217 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers
Union have overwhelmingly ratified a three-year contract for workers at
the Westin Hotel. The vote according to union organizer Alisa Gallo was
104 to 11. The contract which replaces a contract that expired Oct. 31
includes substantial improvements in wages and benefits, according to
Gallo. Union workers had rejected an earlier offer from the company,
picketed the building half a dozen times, and authorized a strike of
their negotiating committee decided that was necessary.
Blount wins contract for dinner-cruise
vessel
WARREN – Blount Industries reports it has won a $4 million contract to
build a 161-foot dinner cruise vessel for Horizon Cruises Inc. of New
York. Horizon plans to use the 600-passenger vessel in New York harbor,
the sixth dinner vessel that Blount has built for New York harbor. The
company has designed and built a total if 23 such boats. Among the
vessel’s features are three enclosed decks and a full-width sun deck.
Delivery of the vessel is scheduled for November1999. Blount said it
would add about 20 more workers for the job and plans an apprenticeship
program in connection with the project to train workers in shipfitting
and production welding.
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Quebecor closes another plant, lays off
160
PROVIDENCE – Just two months after closing its Prairie Avenue plant,
Quebecor has closed its second printing plant in Providence, this one on
West River. The latest closing means 160 layoffs, the company announced.
In November the company laid off 144 workers at its Prairie Avenue
plant. Quebecor, which is based in Quebec, operates about 50 printing
and related plants in 33 states under its Quebecor Printing (USA) Corp.,
and employs about 16,000. A Quebecor spokesman in Boston said the West
River plant had become outdated and the company could not afford to make
the investment necessary to modernize the plant while also maintaining
its other plants at a competitive level throughout the country. Quebecor
bought the plant in 1989 from Robert Maxwell, the British publishing
magnate, who had bought it from the Providence Journal Co. which built
the plant in the 1960s. Local 12-N of the Graphic Communications
International Union which represented 20 workers at the plant said it
would be negotiating separation packages for the workers with the
company. A spokesman for Senator Chafee said the senator had requested
that the United States Secretary of Labor make benefits available to
the laid-off workers under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance
program.
Rhode Island unemployment drops
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island unemployment dropped for the first time in
five months, the state Department of Labor and Training reported. Dr.
Lee H. Arnold, director of the department said the seasonally adjusted
rate fell 0.3 of a percentage point to 4.9 percent for November,
compared with 5.0 percent a year ago. Arnold also attributed an increase
in the number of jobs held by Rhode Islanders holding jobs in the state
or out-of state to holiday hiring. The number of jobholders rose by
2,100 over the month to 478,100. As a result, the number of unemployed
in the state dropped by 1,300 over the month to 24,900 in November.
Pay raises for Gov. staff, college
presidents
PROVIDENCE — Members of Gov. Lincoln Almond’s staff have been given pay
raises of up to $12,000, and three college presidents also received pay
raises. For the staff jobs, Almond and his top aides bypassed the
state’s pay board and instead arranged for the raises by handing out new
job titles with higher pay, The Providence Journal reported. In the
Almond administration, the biggest increase — 21 percent was given to
senior policy associate Clark Curtis. His salary will increase to
$70,000 and his new job title will be director of public affairs. Raises
for college presidents were approved by the Board of Governors for
Higher Education. University of Rhode Island President Robert Carothers
will receive a 10 percent raise, bringing his salary to nearly $160,000.
The board approved 5 percent pay increases for Rhode Island College
President John Nazarian and Community College of Rhode Island President
Edward Liston. Both will earn about $137,000.
Hearing aid company owner pleads no
contest
PROVIDENCE – Robert Norton, 47, of Barrington pleaded no contest in
Providence county Superior Court to 123 counts of filing false Medicaid
documents and one count of obtaining money under false pretenses
according to the Attorney General’s office. Norton’s company, Norton
Hearing, Inc. of Lincoln, pleaded no contest to one count of filing
false Medicaid documents. Norton, whose company provided hearing aids to
individuals, including several who lived in nursing homes – and who
bought the hearing aids from various out-of-state wholesalers at a
discount, was charged with billing Medicaid for the full price of the
hearing aid. Medicaid regulations require that discounts are reflected
in what is charged Medicaid. Norton received a five year suspended
sentence and ordered to repay Medicaid $30,508.68, the amount the
company overcharged Medicaid from 1995 to 1998. Norton’s company was
fined $100, and the Attorney General’s office said that it was expected
that both Norton and his company would be excluded from further
participation in Medicaid and other state or federal health care
programs for a minimum of five years.
