Marketplace: News Archives

Thursday, November 16, 2000
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It's Thursday, November 16th. I'm David Brown, sitting in for David Brancaccio.

Coca-Cola has agreed to pay $192 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit. It is the largest settlement in a race discrimination case in U.S History. Marketplace's Michelle Brier reports.

Brier: "The deal includes at least $113 million in back pay and damages for minority workers who charged Coke with discrimination in pay, promotions and performance reviews. In addition, Coke will pay legal costs and establish a fund to encourage professional achievement for minority employees. The settlement also calls for review and outside monitoring of Coke's employment practices. An attorney for the workers said the settlement sets a new standard for corporate diversity. But American University's Dr. Steven Taylor, who studies discrimination patterns, remains skeptical."

Taylor: "When sometimes it appears that large corporations are making adjustments and changes, a lot of times I see too much token-ism. They hire a few people, a few people whose faces look a little different, and give legitimacy to it. But who will maintain the same discriminatory practices? So until this effects workers at the grassroots level and customers and consumers, I am not impressed."

Brier: "Coca-Cola still faces a separate $1.5 billion lawsuit brought by four former employees who accuse the company of racial bias in hiring and creating a hostile work environment. In New York, I'm Michelle Brier for Marketplace."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak confirmed today that Israel is cranking up the economic pressure on Yasser Arafat to try to force the Palestinians to end their seven-week old uprising. Barak says Israel is withholding money that normally would be transferred to the Palestinian Authority under a series of tax and trade agreements. Steve McNally reports from Jerusalem.

McNally: "In a radio interview today, Barak said Israel isn't paying the Palestinians all the money it owes them because he intends to fight the current battle on all fronts. Under their original interim peace treaty signed in 1993 and in later deals, Israel agreed to refund the sales and income taxes it collects from Palestinians. It also agreed to hand over the port taxes it generates on goods destined for the territories under Palestinian rule. It's a vital source of cash Yasser Arafat needs to keep his regime afloat. Before the current crisis, Israel transferred an average of $50 million a month into the coffers of his Palestinian Authority government. But Israel has drastically reduced the flow of funds. Barak spokesman Nachman Shai says, in part, it's aimed at forcing the Palestinians to end their uprising."

Shai: "We're taking a series of measures in order to convince them to return immediately to normal relations between us that there were before this violence started."

McNally: "Shai says it's also been impossible for representatives of each side to get together to agree on what is owed because of current emergency. Yasser Arafat condemned Israel for withholding the funds, describing it as part of Barak's war against them. The sides don't agree on what's outstanding. The Palestinian Authority says Israel owes it some $90 million and that it can't meet its payroll and paying its bills. In Jerusalem, this is Steve McNally for Marketplace."

Yesterday our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa warned us that folks booking holiday flights on United could be in for a bumpy ride. We weren't expecting to have to update the story so soon, but as WBEZ's Jody Becker reports now from Chicago, labor disputes are already leading to delays and cancellations.

Becker: "United airlines cancelled 78 flights Wednesday, grounding thousands of travelers mostly headed out of Chicago and Denver. A spokesman for United says most of those cancellations were made for maintenance-related reasons, charging the airline's mechanics union with an illegal work slow down. The union representing United's 44,000 mechanics denies there's been any such organized labor slow down, and says workers have even been encouraged to put in overtime at the employee-owned airline. Meanwhile, the airline and its maintenance workers remain embroiled in protracted contract negotiations. The mechanics' contract was up for renewal in July and they're looking for as much as the 24 percent pay boost pilots for United negotiated earlier this year. Last month talks broke down twice. Next Monday, a federal mediator is scheduled to step in. If revenues don't start climbing, it may difficult for the mechanics to lock in the double-digit pay hike. Last month, United's performance was rated the industry's worst, with over four percent of flights cancelled. That's twice the industry average and a caveat for anyone planning holiday travel. In Chicago, I'm Jody Becker for Marketplace."

United's not alone here… Delta's in tense negotiations with its pilots, warning them not to engage in any illegal job action over the holidays like sick-outs or a refusal to work overtime. Northwest faces a possible slowdown by mechanics and over at U.S. Airways, pilots have filed a grievance over the airline's proposed merger with United. We'll keep you posted.

The outcome of the 2000 presidential election now hinges entirely on the results from Florida. The Bush campaign announced today it will not ask for vote re-counts in other close states such as Wisconsin, New Mexico or Iowa. So it looks like Florida's 25 electoral votes will determine whether Al Gore or George Bush gets the 270 needed to become the next President.

So far, with several thousand absentee votes yet to be counted, George Bush holds a razor thin margin in the Sunshine State… so thin that one expert tells Marketplace's John Dimsdale it's a statistical toss-up.

Dimsdale: "Rutgers' professor Michel Gelobtner claims expertise in what he calls the quantitative elements of the theories of Justice. He says George Bush's 300-vote lead after nearly six million Floridians went to the polls is four thousandths of one percent."

Gelobtner: "From a statistical point of view, I think there is pretty strong evidence that we're unable to call a winner in Florida. The basic difference in their votes is basically not significant enough for anyone to feel at all secure that there's a clear winner."

Dimsdale: "Given what Gelobtner calls random vote count errors in every election, machines that can miss or double-count votes, humans who can make mistakes writing or reading numbers, the Florida vote count is too close for comfort."

Gelobtner: "Even a sloppy statistician would probably need to see about 2,500 votes between the candidates. To be statistically rigorous, we'd want to see really a vote difference of 4,000 votes."

Dimsdale: "Recounting votes will not overcome the random errors, only continue them according to Gelobtner, unless a recount turns up several thousand additional votes for one of the candidates. Short of that, the only statistically correct solution would be another vote or a political deal in the Electoral College that ignores Florida's electoral votes. And that last option is possible. Half the states, including Florida, do not require their representatives to the Electoral College to vote for their state's winner. By creating the Electoral College, the founding fathers may have anticipated some political wheeling and dealing when the voters end up in a statistical dead heat. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace."

Some sobering statistics from Wall Street today. Technology stocks got hammered as concerns resurfaced about slowing corporate earnings for computer chipmakers. The Nasdaq composite dropped 133 points or about 4.2 percent. The Dow lost about 50 points, less than 0.5 percent.