Page 25 - atoday
P. 25

BUSINESS A25
                                                                                                                                   Friday 2 October 2015

United’s new CEO acknowledges airline’s failures 

S. MAYEROWITZ                 journey hasn’t always been      ings said Smisek was ousted     In his letter, which ran in                                         answers in advance of the
AP Airlines Writer            smooth.” Since the merger,      following an internal inves-    national newspapers, Mu-                                            site’s launch that focus on
NEW YORK (AP) — Five          United has been plagued         tigation into the airline’s     noz didn’t offer any hints                                          delayed luggage delivery,
years after United Airlines   with chronic delays, com-       dealing with the public         as to how he will actually                                          aging airplanes that lack
and Continental merged,       puter outages and dissat-       agency that operates its        fix United’s many problems                                          Wi-Fi or working TVs and
the company’s new CEO         isfied workers, who have a      hub airport in Newark, New      except that he will listen to                                       the poor quality of first-class
declared in a public letter   reputation for taking out       Jersey.                         fliers and employees.                                               meals. “Let’s be honest, the
that the combined com-        their frustrations on fliers.   That agency, the Port Au-       “We are committed to                                                implementation of the Unit-
pany has failed to live up    The problems overshad-          thority of New York and         re-earning your trust,” he                                          ed and Continental merger
to the expectations of both   owed the tenure of former       New Jersey, is part of a        wrote.                                                              has been rocky for custom-
fliers and United’s employ-   CEO Jeff Smisek, who took       federal investigation into      The company set up a web-                                           ers and employees,” Munoz
ees.                          over the combined airline       abuse of power. Munoz,          site, UnitedAirtime.com, for                                        says on a video greeting
Just three weeks into the     when the merger closed on       a railroad executive and        people to ask questions                                             on the site. “While it’s been
job, CEO Oscar Munoz ac-      Oct. 1, 2009.                   head of United’s audit          and provide feedback to                                             improving recently, we
knowledged in full-page       On Sept. 8, Chicago-based       committee, was named            the airline. The airline post-                                      still haven’t lived up to our
newspaper ads that “the       United Continental Hold-        president and CEO.              ed a few questions and                                              promise or our potential.”q

ConAgra cuts 1,500 jobs; moving HQ from Omaha to Chicago

JOSH FUNK                                                                                                                                                         Chef Boyardee, Slim Jim
                                                                                                                                                                  and Hebrew National hot
AP Business Writer                                                                                                                                                dogs, said the job cuts ex-
                                                                                                                                                                  clude plant positions and
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) —                                                                                                                                                do not include any impact
                                                                                                                                                                  from the planned sale of its
ConAgra will cut about                                                                                                                                            private label operations.
                                                                                                                                                                  It anticipates about $345
1,500 jobs, or approximate-                                                                                                                                       million in one-time charges
                                                                                                                                                                  over the next two to three
ly 30 percent of its global,                                                                                                                                      years related to the re-
                                                                                                                                                                  structuring.
office-based workforce,                                                                                                                                           “It is critical that we run as
                                                                                                                                                                  lean and as efficient and
and move its headquarters                                                                                                                                         as effective as possible,”
                                                                                                                                                                  ConAgra spokesman Jon
to Chicago from Omaha,                                                                                                                                            Harris said.
                                                                                                                                                                  The jobs being eliminated
Nebraska, the company                                                                                                                                             are primarily redundant
                                                                                                                                                                  positions or jobs that will be
said Thursday.                                                                                                                                                    outsourced, ConAgra said
                                                                                                                                                                  Thursday.
About 700 workers will be                                                                                                                                         The changes should create
                                                                                                                                                                  about $200 million in cost
in Chicago starting next                                                                                                                                          savings, with more than
                                                                                                                                                                  half of that realized by the
summer, including the                                                                                                                                             end of fiscal 2017, accord-
                                                                                                                                                                  ing to ConAgra. The bal-
company’s senior leader-                                                                                                                                          ance should be achieved
                                                                                                                                                                  in the following year. q
ship as well as some opera-

tions for its consumer foods

segment that are situated

in Omaha and Naperville,

Illinois. The company will

maintain a significant pres-

ence in Omaha with about      Flags fly over ConAgra Foods world headquarters in Omaha, Neb. ConAgra Foods Inc., said Thurs-
                              day, Oct. 1, 2015, it is getting rid of about 1,500 jobs, or approximately 30 percent of its global
1,200 employees, ConAgra      workforce, as part of a restructuring plan aimed at lowering costs and improving its performance.
                              The packaged foods maker is also moving its headquarters from Omaha, Neb., to Chicago.
said. Those workers will be
                                                                                                                                          (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
involved in research and

development,        supply

chain management and          3,000 employees at its          Iowa.                           between 320 and 350 jobs
                              headquarters in Omaha, in       The Naperville office,          from there will move to the
some key administrative       Lincoln, and across the Mis-    about an hour southwest of      city after the cuts.
                              souri River in Council Bluffs,  the Chicago, will close and     ConAgra, which makes
functions.

The company has around

VW confirms Poetsch to become chairman amid scandal

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)       shareholders’ meeting slat-     the members of a five-          statement seeking to clarify                                        mine who was responsible.
— Volkswagen has con-         ed for Nov. 9. It said that an  member board committee          their investigation into what                                       On Thursday, however,
firmed chief financial offi-  investigation into the firm’s   that is to monitor the prog-    possible role former Volk-                                          they said there had been
cer Hans Dieter Poetsch will  conduct carried out by law      ress of the investigation into  swagen CEO Martin Winter-                                           a “misunderstanding” by
become board chairman         firm Jones Day will take “at    how cars were equipped          korn played in the scandal.                                         some and said they did
as the automaker faces        least several months” and       with software that turned       About a dozen criminal                                              not currently have any
a scandal over cars that      would not be completed          on emission controls during     complaints have been                                                evidence against Winter-
were equipped to cheat        for the meeting.                official testing but turned     filed by citizens, and one                                          korn, but that he had been
on U.S. government emis-      That meant the company          them off them during ordi-      by VW itself, as allowed                                            named in the investigation
sions tests.                  would not be ready to           nary driving.                   under German law. Based                                             as the head of Volkswa-
Poetsch, 64, has been the     provide “well-founded”          The committee will be           upon those complaints the                                           gen.
company’s CFO since           answers to shareholders’        headed by the current           prosecutors said Monday                                             They said their initial release
2003. The company said he     questions. The decisions        acting board chairman,          they had opened an inves-                                           mistakenly said it was an
would be appointed to the     were made during seven          Berthold Huber. Huber is        tigation. They said it would                                        “investigation against Prof.
board and then elected        hours of “intense discus-       the former head of the IG       concentrate on the suspi-                                           Dr. Winterkorn.”
chairman.                     sions” at a board meeting       Metall industrial workers’      cion of fraud committed                                             “The goal of the investiga-
The board said in a state-    on Wednesday evening,           union.                          through the sale of vehicles                                        tion is in particular to clarify
ment Thursday that it was     the statement said.             Meanwhile, prosecutors          with manipulated emissions                                          responsibility,” the prosecu-
postponing a special          Volkswagen also named           in Braunschweig issued a        data, and aimed to deter-                                           tors’ office said.q
   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30