Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 31

Section 3 (fhicago (Tribune Tuesday, April 10, 1990 USX says steel orders 'surprisingly strong' Tuesday Ticker By Michael Arndt In a development that runs counter to widespread worry of an industrial-sector recession, USX Corp. said Monday that orders for steel are so heavy they might overwhelm the company's capacity to make and ship its products. On another topic, USX Chairman Charles Corry also said the company probably won't sell all of the Texas Oil Gas Corp. reserves it put on the auction block last fall because bids on some of the six asset packages were too low. And Corry ridiculed the methodology that investor Carl Icahn is not be able to keep up with demand, Corry said.

The Pittsburgh-based company can produce about 16.S million tons of steel a year and ship about 13 million tons annually. Purchase orders are coming from a wide range of sources, he said. The domestic automobile industry, in its deepest slump in years, is beginning to place new orders, having worked off much of its excess inventory. Orders for tin plate, used in beverage and food packaging, are strong, while demand for structural and plate steel remains fair, he said. More important, he said, orders for tubular products are picking up.

using in his campaign to spin off U.S. Steel from the rest of USX. Corry said Icahn's post-breakup stock values $9 for U.S. Steel and $39 for USX's other businesses are inflated. Beyond that, he said USX shareholders are better off having a corporation that includes both the nation's biggest steelmaker and a successful and growing integrated energy business, Marathon Oil Co.

"We haven't exactly been sitting on our hands in this company, the company is in evolution and has been in that mode probably for at least eight years," Corry said in an interview. "We're always doing deals." Tubular goods, pipe consumed mostly in oil and gas wells, are "the most important product we have in our steel business" because of their high markups, Corry said. "Selling a ton of tubular is as good as selling 2.S or 3 tons of anything else." Economists could give no reason for USX's surge in orders. Overall, they said the industrial sector remains weak. Also, economists predicted shrinking profits will curb capital spending, which would keep the sector depressed for some time.

But Evelina Tainer, senior domestic economist for First National Bank of Chicago, added: "I See USX, pg. 4 But USX's strategy remains constant, he said: "To grow in energy and maintain a good steel business." For the moment, at least, steel is a good business for USX. After a weak performance during the last half of 1989 and early this year, steel orders shot up suddenly about five weeks ago, Corry said, and show no sign of slackening. "Our order book has been surprisingly strong," he said, adding that steel operating profits' will be "respectable" in the first quarter and could be much better in the second quarter. Indeed, if orders kept coming in at this pace all year, USX would In one of the largest declarations of insurance coverage ever, a New Jersey state judge ruled that Owens-Illinois insurance companies will have to pay as much as $960 million to cover asbestos-related claims against the company.

The insurers, including a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck Allstate Insurance Co. unit, had argued that the policies don't cover asbestos damages. Marshall Field Co. is selling its Commercial Interiors office furniture division to Cotey Office Environments. Field's officials said the division, which has been a separate business operation since 1932, no longer fits with its primary retail focus.

Cotey said it plans to retain most of the division's 68 employees, while workers who are not retained will be offered similar posts within Field's. Commercial Interiors operates out of offices at 372 W. Ontario St. It also has satellite offices in west suburban Itasca and Glendale, Wis. Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities fell in Monday's auction to their lowest levels in a month.

The Treasury De- partment sold $8.2 bil-T-DlllS lion in three-month MM Ford chief earns $6.6 million; at GM, $2.5 million is tops 1 8.0 7.9 7T 7ir bills at an average discount rate of 7.80 percent, down from 7.83 percent last week. Another $8.2 billion was sold in six-month bills at the same average discount rate of 7.80 percent, down from 7.81 percent last week. The rates were the lowest since three-month bills sold for mrnia 5 1219262 9 Mar. Apr. rs 11 it 1 mm I i rdtw nawut TTttrfirr Petersen Smith is TrtDune pnoto Dy Mtcnaei Fryer Sears closes Old Town store Sears will close its test Sears Ltd.

store at hasn't attracted as many upper-income North Avenue and Wells Street because it shoppers as it expected. Story, Page 4. By Jim Mateja Auto writer Detroit executives learned what it was like to scrimp last year. Ford Motor Co. Chairman Donald Petersen, who brought home $10.49 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation in 1988, earned $6.57 million in 1989.

General Motors Corp. Chairman Roger Smith, who earned $3.59 million in 1988, had to make do with $2.49 million in 1989. Executive salaries at Ford and GM were disclosed Monday in proxy statements mailed to shareholders in preparation for annual meetings. Chrysler's proxy will be mailed Friday. Ford's top executive was paid more in salary and bonuses even though the automaker was out-earned by GM in 1989 for the first time in three years.

Ford earned $3.8 billion, down 28 percent from $5.3 billion in 1988. GM earned $4.2 billion, down 12 percent from $4.8 billion in 1988. Petersen, who retired as Ford chairman Feb. 28, was paid $1.53 million in salary, up 34 percent from $1.14 million in 1988. Smith, who will retire as chairman of GM July 31, was paid 1 .09 million in salary, up 1 1 percent from $983,000 in 1988.

Petersen received a bonus of $1.52 million, down 31 percent' from $2.2 million in 1988.. He exercised $3.53 million in stock options, making his total compensation $6.58 million. In 1988, he exercised $7.15 million in stock options for a total'compen-sation package of $10.49 million. At GM, in addition to his sala- Greyhound sues union drivers Says strike-inspired violence has cost $10 million ry, Smith earned $1.4 million in stock incentive compensation, or stock bonuses. That was down from $1.5 million in 1988.

He exercised no stock options; he had exercised $1 million in options in 1988. Smith's total compensation package was $2.49 million, down from $3.59 million in 1988. Harold Poling, who succeeded Petersen as chairman and who served as vice chairman in 1989, received $1.19 million in salary, up 25 percent from $951,281 1988. Poling's bonus dropped to $960,000 from $1.6 million. Poling exercised $786,094 in stock options, down from $1.52 million in 1988.

Poling's total compensation was $2.94 million, down 28 percent from $4.07 million in 1988. At GM, Robert Stempel, president and the man who'll succeed Smith as chairman on Aug. 1, earned a $725,000 salary, up from $633,000 in 1988. His stock and incentive compensation dipped to $1.05 million from $1.1 million. He exercised $321,820 in stock options, up from $11,000 in 1988.

Ford said its annual meeting will be May 10 in Detroit. GM's meeting will be May 25 in 7.72 percent on Feb. 26 and six-month bills averaged 7.79 percent March 5. As coupon rates, the latest yields were 8.07 and 8.23 percent, respectively. Ford Motor Co.

is recalling about 101,000 of its 1986-model Aerostar mini-vans to repair a defect that could cause fuel leaks. The carmaker will install, free of charge, new seals between the gas tanks and the gas tank filler pipes. Integrated Resources Inc's Learjet Corp. unit will sell its assets and operations to a U.S. subsidiary of Bombardier Inc.

of Montreal for $73 million. About 1,000 employees of Bcloit a unit of Harnischfcger Industries Inc. in Bcloit, went on strike. American Airlines was sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which charged that the company's weight standards for flight attendants discriminate against female flight attendants over the age of 40.

Formal talks broke otT between two rival groups promoting different versions of Unix computer software, though the groups said they have agreed to certain standards. One of the groups, Unix International, was set up by American Telephone Telegraph Co. The other, the Open Software Foundation, was established by such rivals as IBM, Digital Equipment and Siemen's of West Germany. Oshkosh B'Gosh Inc. acquired Essex Outfitters the U.S.

licensee of Boston Traders for children's wear. Terms weren't disclosed. Essex, based in New York City, has a distribution center in Savannah, Ga. John W. Burns III was named to head Kemper accounting and treasury functions and was recommended to become treasurer.

He succeeds Walter White, who was elected chief financial officer of Kemper National Insurance Companies, the other major unit of Long Grove-based Kemper. Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. will report lower profits for the first quarter because of lower sales to new car producers, "severe pricing competition" in North America and Europe, and "a sizable drop" in profits from Brazil, said Tom H. Barrett, chairman and chief executive. By Tom Masland Greyhound Lines Inc.

sued its striking union members Monday, charging they had conspired to use violence in an effort to bring management to the bargaining table. The union called the lawsuit a publicity stunt aimed at justifying the company's refusal to bargain until attacks on buses stop. The union, meanwhile, was preparing for an announcement Tuesday rumored to involve a plan to buy out the company. A Greyhound spokeman insisted the company is not for sale. The flurry of activity comes after weeks of stalemate in the strike by 6,300 drivers and 3,000 maintenance and other workers.

The company has hired and trained hundreds of permanent replacement workers since the March 2 walkout but failed in a bid to restore full service by April 1. The company says there have been about 30 shooting incidents and more than 100 bomb threats; one driver was shot and seriously injured on a Florida highway two weeks ago. The union has detailed 60 incidents of violence against drivers, including one crushed to death while walking a picket line in California on the second day of the strike. "Greyhound has been forced to bring this suit to protect itself, its employees, the communities it serves and the traveling public against a concerted and unlawful assault by the defendants," says the suit. The violent acts pass "far beyond the bounds of legitimate conduct sanctioned by the labor laws and represent clear efforts to disrupt interstate travel by criminal means," the suit charges.

The suit claims attacks have cost the company at least $10 million. Union spokesman Nick See Greyhound, pg. 4 City's aid to industry attacked City industrial park sites fOvJXA-rn 'Irving Ha-t-t-i O'HareU North nt'l fcl-S J- Q-Ard Inside MCI Communications plans to buy No. 4 long-distance operator Telecom USA Inc. for $1.25 billion.

Page 3. The U.S. currency withstands an assault by central banks and resumes its climb against the yen. Page 5. In a boost for southeast Wisconsin, the Navy selects Kenosha County for a new materials research center.

Page 3. i VOK'fio' TO ROBOTS 0 i DIAL '0' THE HUMAN TOUCH Propo By Merrill Goozner Gary Kipnis, general manager of R.S. Anderson wanted to keep his expanding business and its 70 employees in the city. But he had run out of space in his plant at 6851 W. Irving Park Rd.

About four years ago, he began exploring the firm's options. First Kipnis called the city's Economic Development Department. "I never got called back," he said Monday, while explaining his experiences during a press conference called to attack the city's policies for retaining existing businesses. Two years ago, Kipnis said, he heard about the city's agreement with the State of Illinois to turn a portion of the former mental health facility at Irving Park Road and Montrose Avenue into an industrial park. Kipnis called the Alter Group, the industrial developer chosen by the state to develop the property.

He never heard back. From attending a community meeting, Kipnis got the impression the neighbors weren't interested in having a factory in their back yard, even one that was didn't want industry on the Northwest Side," Kipnis said. Next January, R.S. Anderson Co. will take 150 jobs, up from its current 70, to a brand new facility in northwest suburban Wheeling.

He is building it with the help of a Cook County tax abatement and low-interest bonds issued by the Industrial Development Finance Authority. "The city wasn't much help," said Kipnis. At the Monday press conference, a group of frustrated manufacturers, including Kipnis and the city's neighborhood development groups, blasted the Daley administration for failing to create enough inexpensively priced industrial parks to meet the burgeoning demand of manufacturers and wholesale distributors in the city. "If the city is in a position to offer cheap land for Sears and United Airlines, why can't they do the same thing for small manufacturers?" said Carl Bufalini, executive director of the North Business and Industrial Council, a North Side business See Industry, pg. 4 Propose Northwest Center Stockyards Industrial Park 0 Proposed Chicago Tribune Graphic Business facts Occupational nothing more than a wholesale grocery distributor.

Still, when the company was on the verge of making its decision to move last June, he called his alderman, Thomas Cullerton (38th). "He said the residents In percent for February 1990 Managers and 1.9 I pruiobsiunais Technical, sales and i administrative support I TV linkup for Tribune, Turner Service occupations 6j Tnbun pftolo by Ovw Carlur Precision production, craft and repair Dial 0 for protest Operators, fabricators and laborers By James Warren Tribune Broadcasting Co. on Monday entered into a 10-year news-gathering and television production deal with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. that will bring new one-hour prime-time newscasts to four Tribune-owned stations nationwide, in eluding CBS have sought deals of various sorts with Turner. Especially in the news area, Turner and his Cable News Network are seen as potent, growing forces at a time when news resources and coverage are diminishing at the over-the-air net-See TV linkup, pg.

4 cluding WGN-Ch. 9. The agreement between Tribune Broadcasting and cable pacesetter Ted Turner may be notable as much for the fact that it was completed as for its ramifications, many of which remained unclear. That's because many firms, in- Gayle Gray, president of the Communications Workers of America, waits outside Illinois Bell offices Monday along with a "Darth Vader" as the union prepared to kick off a campaign against replacing operators with computers. Chicago Tribune Graphic by John Bode; Source: U.S.

Department of Labor.