The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 31

tSIESS THE NEWS It: OrthIRM FRIDAY ALIGUST 4 1995 9C Air South may link operations with Kiwi Merging the two carriers' routes would help Air South financially and increase the number of destinations rilliei0611771 illittetititIM lit it SI 111 eowpwitoomosiitglent -ua fr ers because the company is one of orly two low-fare carriers at ILDU Air South has 80 daily eights and serves eight destinations: RDU Myrtle Beach Columbia Atlanta and Miami Tampa Tallahassee and Jacksonville Fla Under the proposal passengers tying Air South to Atlanta or Tampa could connect with a Kiwi jet at Atlanta or Lunpa and tly other destinations that KIWI would nearly double the number of destinations the company ofers from Raleigh-Durham International Airport The struggling Columbia SC based airline is negotiating a deal with Kiwt International Airtnes that would efectiliely merge the carriers' route systertis The alliance could help Air South stay airborne That's good news for local travel serves: Chicago Newark NJ Bermuda and Orlando and West Palm Beach Fla Passengers would bock Edghts with one phone call only cheyk in once and have' their tuggage transferred between airlines Both airLnes would remain autonomous and no cash would change hands But the agcrentent Sd Aat SOUTH 1 cc: BY DUDLEY PRICE STAFF wilt Air South is considering a marketing and operating agreement with another low-fare airline that Air South planes leaving Italegh-Durham International Airport wilt be connecting passengers to flights served by Kiwi International Airtines if the deal goes through MANY FIRMS STILL RESIST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 110 4 i 416 Job equality is elusive in Africa to be part of Companies court blacks but jobs may be shams Diredars of the Raleigh station's parent company on Wednesday night accepted a $396 million buyout offer from NBC ending a bidding spat BY SUZANNE DALEY THE NEW YORK TWIES BY KYLE NIARSIALL wctt II Ail N41111-141 '114 $t' I tqt' I 44411ftte 4 IILTille ciAl 14141i4141: 1' 4NSt IP' 1 i '11 1 tot 7 7 'I-- l'''' '1NN? 1 1 va34i- oer1-i 14: wiL its :7 twc tqtc i 1 i -r ---ii it 74t l'-4-1-oi44 'id i -i 1 a24 ''Ir ji 4 1 A -NI 1'i 1 1 'I t'''71L am i delaPetl :7 447' 1: 4 I 17a ''''e: ''111- 41 A' "44-4 4 9 141 'It 'e i 1 4' l'eb' 1 5': l' ''lH iir 1 oi L(4' l'k i i i4w)4' zt-I 1 ii 0 -Ni 0 464" 0 i 1 i :1 p- 711k11r tr 1 (41 1 -4: 7 141 1: i 4 tit 1 't ''I t44 a r404 7 t- 4' if 1i'' I II I 2 AP 4 Y' it flit 1:: i 1 -k: A I '-i-- ''''I L------- 000 ti--iii'0 4 If L- --s 5:::5 5 1' JOHANNESBURG After spending seven years uith one company and feeling somewhat tmderappreciated Wiseman Ntombela a black 34-yearold sales manager here decided recently that he would try looking for a new job In less than a month he was hired at nearly double his old salary With apartheid behind them many South African companies are rushing to bring black faces into their companies and they are competing furiously with each other for the country's limited number of skilled experienced blacks The result is that young professional blacks are being wooed with salaries that are 20 to 50 percent higher than their white counterparts Often too the jobs come with cellular phones fancy cars and imposing titles But many blacks say that this is actually a time of deep frustration disappointment and anger for them The corporate welcome is not as genuine as the salaries might suggest Many of the jobs turn out to carry little real authority and the work can be demeaning or nonexistent Blacks say they often feel like window dressing "There are a lot who are in jobs that do nothing" said Ntombela who hopes his new job coming up with ways to get people to pay their television fees here is not like that "Those jobs aren't for me I want my initiative my suggestions to be taken seriously" Matthew Grossett who lectures on human resource management at the University of Witwatersrand said that virtually every black student he had last year had an impressive-sounding job before graduation But three months later almost all of them had resigned "The work was awful" Grossett said "I think some of them were even doing filing Companies are going out and hiring because of the sense that if they don't get their house in order the government will force them to do it But they are not necessarily doing it welt" The parent company of Raleigh' WNCN TV Channel 17 now is in the hands of NEC which promises to make the station's start-up news operation competitive with the Thangle's three tAher TV newseasts Directors of Outlet Communications Inc on Wednesday night NBC's tnovin offer of S396 millam or $475 per share In aeeepting the offer Cranston RI-based Outlet spurned its fust potential buyer Communications Inc which had bid $360 million for the company The parties ended up in court this week with a Delaware judge on Tuesday rejecting a mmplaint from Rertaissanee thus clearing the way for Outlet to accept NBC's offer NBC also settled a lawsuit by Renaissance although the network didn't reveal terms of the settlement When the puvhase is completed after regulatory reviews the 'Mangle will beeome one of the nation's smallest TV markets with two network-owned The other is WTVD i Durham owned by Capital CitiesABC which this week agreed to be sold to Walt Disney Co "Th me that says a lot for our market and the potential growth of the said Bud NINA WNCN's general manager Viewers in the Ilit-tngle the nation's 32nit-- largest TV market will see changes at Cluutuel 17 but most were in the works even before Outlet agreed to the sale The station which completed its move from Claytim to Raleigh just two weeks ago had long plumed to become a full fledged NBC affiliate by Oct 2 Since Marvh it's been earning NBC prime-time progranuning on Friday and Saturday nights when current NBC affiliate wizneTv it Raleigh has aired shows from new network 111N WNCN is in the midst of several projects revoking around its switch to NBC from its independent status and part-time affiliation with new network Wit owned by Time Warner Inc Settling into the former Will-TV studios on Front Street is one Boosting the power of its transmitter in Clayton is another testing began Wednesday night The most noticeable change may be the addition of livid newscasts When the Trizmgle market's current NBC affiliate WRDC TV Channel 28 was sold four years ago the new owners dropped local news saying they couldn't compete with W111 TV and wrva Soon the new Fox-affiliated station in the market launched news broadcasts NBC promises to make the news operation Wiseman Ntombela a sales manager recently landed a new job at double his old salary TNE NEW YORK TIMES "There is a feeling that they donl I'ant to risk the areas where the money is" Nor does the rush to hire mean that the companies have given much thought to how to diversify their work force Experts say most South African companies still see affirmative action pailies are pressing for black recruits particularly in the soft areas of the companies such as human resources "The tendency is to shy away from financial areas and line-management areas" said Ronnie Ndlovu the managing director of New Generation Executive a company that has specialized in placing black candidates The days of "whites only" are not completely gone from South Africa Personnel agencies say they still do business with companies that will interview only white candidates for positions above driver and many more that will see only white candidates for particular jobs But in the past 18 months they say more and more coin SE AFRICA PkGE 1 4 Su WNCN PAGE OC Glaxwell cuts sales marketing jobs Sales of top general retailers Figures in billions of dollars percent change ftom the same period a year earlier exact reporting periods os shown July retail sales look deceptively good BY DAVID HAM STAFF WRITER 011995 Wal-Mart Stores Inc LC Penney Co Inc S131 It 49 I Cooling items like air conditioners were hot sellers but apparel was sitting on the shelves 1 42 Four weeks 10 July 26 Four weeks to July 29 S671 about the restructuring of its sales and marketing staff which occurred in mid-July But documents recently supplied to employees and obtained by The News St Observer indicate that 254 of 3771 sales marketing and support staff workers were given 60-day notices The figures do not show how many of the laid-off employees previously worked for Glaxo Inc and how many had worked for Burroughs Wellcome Co Glaxo is in the midst of a departmentby-department restructuring triggered by Glaxo Plc's nearly $15 billion hostile takeover of Wellcome Plc in March Both Glaxo and Wellcome were London-based companies with US headquarters in RTP Dayton Hudson Corp Kmad Corp BY JoirE ROSENBERG THE ASSOCIAILD PRESS RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK Glaxo Wellcome Inc's massive restructuring has eliminated 254 sales and marketing jobs nationwide which amounts to about 7 percent of the total sales and marketing staff It is unclear how many of the layoffs involved workers employed at the pharmaceutical company's headquarters in Research Triangle Park But the majority of the company's commercial operations employees particularly sales people are scattered across the country Glaxo refused to disclose any details A mixed bag of sales results announced Thursday by the nation's big store owners Showed business improved last month for companies selling goods that could help people cool off But nusrchants who had a good month generally weren't celebrating very much because they had taken heavy price markdowns on a backlog of merchandise that Left them with smaller profits SU WAIL PACE IOC 65'Yo IS 79 Four weeks lo July 26 Four wooks to July 29 $251 $153 Sears Roebuck and Co $276 rit7ts Some top retoilers do not report their sales on a monthly basis including ICH Macy Co Inc ond Montgomery Wold Co The July heat wave was a blessing for retailers of air conditioners and backyard pools but it once again dried up sales for some big apparel merchimts The Assoctate6 Pre BRIEFS I MARKET WATCH 1 DOW 1127 closed at 470142 500 -005 closed at 55875 WILSHIRE closed at $5520728 billion ri 30-YEAR BOND YIELD 692 up from 685 news conference Reno refused to elaborate on the pace or the government's plans "The matter is pending" she said "I hope we will reach a determination shortly" The government is looking into whether Microsoft the software industry leader will gain an unfair advantage by having Windows 95 include access software needed to subscribe to the company's new Microsoft Network computerized information service man of a failed Texas savings and loan bank for $250 million and said he used risky deals to hide the thrifts financial problems The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp's suit focuses solely on Iturwitz and his dealings at United Savings Association of Texas Hurwitz is how chairman at Ma'am Inc a Houston-based aluminum forest products and real estate company United Savings was taken over by regulators in 1988 and sold to new owners Federal regulators absorbed the company's bad assets which led to more than $15 billion in losses for the $EE Bmus PAGE OC NATIONAL Reno says Microsoft decision due soon WASHINGTON General Janet Reno said the Justice Department hopes to decide shortly about whether it will try to block Microsoft Corp's eagerly awaited Windows 95 program on antitrust grounds While the computer industry and Wall Street hold their breath federal antitrust regulators are examining several aspects of Microsoft's biggest product introduction ever Windows 95 is set to hit the market Aug 24 Asked about the investigation at a TRIANGLE Recycling grants offered to firms Wake County's Solid Waste Division is offering a total of $50000 in grants to local businesses for the purpose of reducing waste A business may seek a grant of up to $10000 Grants will be used to create programs to reduce waste at the source promote reuse and increase recycling The deadline for submitting requests is 5 pm Aug 11 For details call 856- 6186 0 NYSE la AMEX 101 NASDAQ -023 closed at 29993 -031 closed at 52285 -105 closed at 98270 Banker sued HOUSTON Bank regulators sued Charles Ittuwitz the former chair.