The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 41

safeas Ee The Sacramento Bee TuesdaySeptemberS 1998 bee6n the internets wwwsacbeecom CLASSIFIED ra briefing Insurer to pay $500000 to settle charges By David Evans Bloomberg News Service American Bankers Insurance Group Inc agreed to pay $500000 to settle allegations by California regulators that some of its credit-insurance sales practices violated state law Investigators for the Department of Insurance said they discovered the violations during an examination of the operations in the state The problems included using improperly licensed telephone solicitors and unapproved policy forms settlement sends an unequivocal message to credit insurers and their agents that the department is committed to regulating credit insurance practices to protect the interests of California said Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush Officials at Miami-based American Bankers available for comment Credit insurance policies pay off a loans in case of death disability or unemployment The settlement includes a fine restitution administrative and investigative costs and clude more cash and less stock On March 24 the day after the merger plan was announced Cendant stock traded at $41 a share At that time the 49 percent portion of the purchase to be paid in Cendant stock would have required the issuance of about 37 million shares Since then a 75 percent plunge in Cendant stock has more than doubled the number of shares the company would have to issue under the agreement which calls for Cendant to make a cash tender offer for the first 51 percent of American Bankers funding a consumer outreach effort the department said In March American Bankers agreed to be acquired by Cendant Corp the owner of such service companies as Coldwell Banker real estate and Avis car rentals for $31 billion in stock and cash That was just weeks before Cendant disclosed accounting problems that erased most of the market value and trimmed approximately $650 million from previously reported profit Cendant is negotiating new terms for its offer to buy American Bankers that will in I 1 i'1 'Ww w- Firms try to adjust to family demands annual survey praises 100 By Maggie Jackson Associated Press Managers at Texas Instruments will soop begin taking a class on making decisions based not only on business needs but on needs The effort is part of a growing realization by Corporate America that to be family-friendly a company just set up programs on paper and wait for employees to sign up experts say Reflecting this growing shift Working Mother magazine has changed the way it compiles its annual list published today in its October issue of the best 100 companies for working moms For the first time the magazine has considered whether companies give work-life training to managers and whether pay is linked to their effectiveness in dealing with such issues And in addition to the usual criteria of pay child-care benefits and schedule flexibility the magazine also gave close scrutiny to whether a work-family programs are well-used digging a little moe deeply to try and get at the culture and how addressing these said the deputy editor Deborah Wilburn have to look hard at whether this is a Band-Aid approach or a public relations Computer-chip maker Texas Instruments which also is revising a seminar on flexible work arrangements to emphasize how to make them succeed won a spot on the prestigious list The magazine does not rank the Please see MOMS pageE2 i n'4 Bee photographMichael A Jones Leticia Rodriguez shown with her children Maickol 4 Jobs with the responsibility of raising three children as a sin-months Ruby 9 and Esteban 6 juggles two part-time gle parent kind of Mom and Rodriguez says Parents working more sleeping less Northwest talks set to resume Negotiators in the Northwest Airlyies pilots strike planned to resume federally mediated talks today jn Minneapolis but not necessarily face to face Mediators on Monday told representatives of Northwest and the Air tjne Pilots Association to take the day off to their posi-tiona'Wter no progress was made during exploratory sessions Saturday and Sunday at a suburban Chicago hotel AboUt 27700 of 50000 employees have been put on temporary leave since the strikebegan Aug 28 The airline has canceled all flights through Thursday all incoming flights froni'Europe and Asia through Saturday and flights between Asian markets through Saturday Supersonic business jet? Gulfstream Aerospace Corp said studying jointly developing iv supersonic business jet with Lockheed Martin Corp Georgia-based business-jet maktjr Gulfstream and Maryland-based tockheed the sec-ond-bjggest defense and aerospace company are looking at technical-feasibility regulatory and certification issues associated with the development of a super-sonitbusinessjet The announcement which combs as the 25-year-old super-sonifc Concorde plane approaches the end of its life sets the stage for intense competition between the companies and Dassault Aviation SA to be the first develop a business jet that can fly at supersonic speeds Gulfstream is working with Lockheed Skunk Works based in Palmdale USdrum maker purchased Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer NV has agreed to buy a 501 percdnt stake in US steel-drum maker Sirco Systems LLC as Van Leer fxpands its global reach VdnLeer the largest steel-drum maker disclose financial details Birmingham Ala-based Sirco is the No 1 maker of prefabricated steel drums for shipping It had 1997 sales of about $20 million jhoticed they were supplying our said Bernard Olgetsi a spokesman for Van Leer the only global steel-drum manufacturer a technique we In short Financial markets in the United States were closed Monday in observance of Labor Day fjextel Communications Inc will ujjnveil today a new and smaller phona aimed at business users in-dustij analysts said The ilOOO madeby Motorola Inc for McLean Va-based Nextel the fast-est-gwing wireless operator ounces The summer movie season officially ended Labor Day setting records for ticket sales ($25 billion topping last $22 billion) and for aET5hdance (560 million tickets the 526 million in the summer ef 1994) according to Exhibitor Relations Co Inc the dollar fell against other major currencies in late international trading Gold prices rose Electronics giant Hitachi Amefjca Ltd is unveiling Internet-commerce software in a bid to compete for corporate customers with IBM and Microsoft Corp Trade-Link iloSts on average and helps companies set up cordputer systems to sell goods and services over the Internet Eidos Pic largest publisher of entertainment soft-warejjgreed to buy Crystal Dynamics Inc of Menlo Park for $475 million in cash Crystal Dynamics which brakes computer games for personal computers and video-gameiystems like Sony best-selling PlayStation reported losing $15 million in the latest fiscal year I Bee news services Ot sw Balancing demands of jobs family now a greater struggle poll finds Working parents in California One in five California parents with children under age 18 are raising them without a spouse 1 Not classifiable Marriedcouple with children Single with childrenno spouse present Couple with children 93 Married 49 Have child under age 5 42 Latino 4 African American 45 High school education or less 28 College graduate 21 Household income less than $20000 Single with children 79 Female 33 Never married 33 Have child under age 5 30 Latino 17 African American 54 High school education or less 14 College graduate 49 Household income less than $20000 study about the changing nature of work in California and the impact on the health of workers The California Wellness Foundation funded the project Among the findings for working parents: 28 percent of households with children under 18 years old have incomes 125 percent of the federal poverty level (Under $16000 for a family of three $20000 for a family of four) 20 percent say they are very or somewhat likely to experience inadequate housing food or medical attention in the next two months Caucasians make up 45 percent of all California families with children under 18 Latino households account for 40 percent 38 percent of employed parents work 45 hours or more a week compared with 31 percent of adults under 55 without children 12 percent of working parents do not work a daytime shift 52 percent have flexible hours at work After parents get home Second of two parts By Gilbert Chan Bee Staff Writer When it comes to time and money Leticia Rodriguez certainly knows what to do: Budget She budgets her money to support her three children She budgets her time to spend with her family while juggling two part-time jobs kind of mom and the 28-year-old West Sacramento single parent said Rodriguez alone Increasingly working parents throughout California are facing greater demands as they try to balance work and family needs during economic boom times They are working long hours on the job and spending many sleepless hours on the home front reports a Field Institute poll released today The California Work and Health Survey was conducted by the Field Institute for the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Francisco The survey of 1771 adults taken earlier this summer is part of a three-year UCSF Half of single parents in California have household Incomes of less than $20000 per year Best of the best The 10 companies cited by Working Mother magazine as being pro- (listed in alphabeti- cal order): CiticorpCitibank Glaxo Wellcome Inc ibm Mamed couple with children Sin Je with children no spouse present $60000 or more Less than $20000 Less than $20000 $60000 or more Johnson Johnson Eli Lilly and Co 3 i $40000 $59000 MBNA America Bank NA Merck Co Inc NationsBank Corp SAS Institute $20000- $39999 $40000 $59000 $20000- $39999 Bee graphicMitchell Brooks Please see POLL page E2 Source: The Field Institute Xerox Corp Your ftim Ag marketing program enters populist stage A A' Each week you have an opportunity to sound off on an issue In the workplace cz distributed among agricultural cooperatives and among trade groups for so- called generic promotions This marks a dramatic shift for a program that has given Gallo $48 million since 1994 also an uncomfortable shift for the industry and for the economists who maintain that brand-name promotions work best for products like wine But ultimately politics forced the Agriculture hand 1 have had a tough time convincing program critics that big companies should financial help said Kent Sisson director of the Foreign Agricul-- i Please see AID page E2 definitely been money Ironstone export director Joan Kautz said of the federal aid really allowed us to go into the markets and given us a little more money to spend on Ironstone paid for the Dublin lunch and wine-tasting In a few months the winery will boost its Irish marketing efforts with funds from the $90 million-a-year Market Access Program Long loved by California growers and loathed by congressional critics as the program is entering a populist new stage From now on big companies like Gallo and Tyson Foods will no longer get federal aid to promote their brand names The money instead will be By Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The Irish met Murphys winemaking last week With the help of Uncle Sam they soon may be glad-handing a lot more In the Clarence Hotel in Dublin Ireland some 70 Irish wine writers and enthusiasts had their formal introduction to the wines of Ironstone Vineyards The largest of the half-dozen wineries planted around the Mother Lode town of Murphys Ironstone is aggressively pursuing foreign customers with the help of a federal program hoping to shed past controversy The stock market has plunged since Its high in July Have you made or are you planning to make changes in your retirement account? Cal! us at (916) 552-5252 from a touch-tone phone and press category 4076 to leave a comment or e-mail us at sacbizsacbeecom Please provide your name and daytime phone number for verification purposes Selected comments wf be published in Sunday's Business section wwwMobMaom For expanded versions of stories appearing in Briefing go to wwwsacbeecomnewsbiz.