The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 11

The Kansas City Star Tuesday June 6 1989 Page 4B Concrete drivers shun a 2 'tier wage By Mike Hendricks Star bualnass financial writer Striking concrete-truck drivers in Kansas City know going to have to live with a wage cut The issue is how much of a cut they will face and how it will be structured Teamsters Local 541 rejected a tentative agreement with the eight-company Concrete Producers Association of Kansas City on Sunday not because it called for a cut but because the producers wanted a two-tier wage scale members attending the meeting said today The drivers were making 11618 an hour under an agreement that expired at the end of March In mid-April the companies cut wages to a flat $1150 an hour and the union has struck various producers since then The package defeated Sunday called for a rate of $1450 an hour on commercial work and $1150 for pouring concrete driveways and the like in residential developments union sources said The blended rate would result in an average wage of about $13 an hour Drivers attending the meeting say rather have a guaranteed flat rate than one that pays high in the summer when a lot of commercial work is done and low in the winter when drivers are more likely to be pouring house foundations Not all of the affected drivers voted on the package Sunday according to union sources Some employers are trying to reach separate agreements with their workers Meanwhile strikers continue to picket Geiger Ready-Mix and Concrete Materials Inc while other companies continue to operate without union protest Women at work work place issues and an update on the Lan-drum-Griffin Act will be the focus of the spring meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association meeting on Wednesday Registration begins at 3 pm in Conway Hall at Rock-hurst College The afternoon Erogram will look at the La-or-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin) Joyce Miller the Research Association president will talk about work place issues important to women during the dinner session 6:30 to 8 pm at Massman Hall Miller is an AFL-CIO vice president who is also vice president of her international union the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and is president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women The program is being sponsored by the Labor Office of Labor Management Standards the Bureau the Missouri Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Industrial Relations Research Association The cost is $30 For information call Tom Stover at 426-2547 or Carl Wallmark at 374-6214 Labor catendar Other events: On June 15 the Labor Management Council of Greater Kansas City will hold a program on labor-management problem-solving in the Kansas City School District Speakers will be school Superintendent George Garcia and Norm Hudson president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers Lunch begins at 11:45 am and the program will follow The cost is $20 reservations are required Call 926-4565 for information Building trades union members will be at Kansas City street corners on June 17 collecting money in the annual Dollars Against Diabetes Drive Organizers want to raise money to build a research hospital in Florida Registration is now going on for the fourth annual Mid-America Labor Management conference next month at the Lodge of the Four Seasons Lake Ozark Mo Business meetings begin July 5 and end July 7 As always the conference will address a broad range of issues including drug testing employee involvement programs and future labor-management issues Organizers were unable to book Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole for the conferen-cem as they had hoped Keynote speakers will be William Dunn Sr chairman of the board of JE Dunn Construction Co in Kansas City and Joe Velasquez director of community services for the AFL-CIO The cost is $95 For information write Robert Crouch at the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations at 421 Dunklin Jefferson City Mo 65101 Machinists scholarship The International Association of Machinists has presented a $l000-a-year college scholarship to Valerie A Gish a graduate of Platte County R-3 High School She is the daughter of Mary Gish and the late William Gish a member of Local 1650 in Kansas City Jennifer Wood Star business financial writer People on the move Commercial National Bank Kansas City Kan has hired Susan Copeland as vice Susan Copeland -ir president in its investment division Copeland was assistant vice president of research and development for US Central Credit union Overland Park Honors awards Ford Motor Co has awarded Louis Matt its 1988 award Matt is the owner of Matt Ford Sales Inc in Buckner The award recognizes outstanding overall performance in customer satisfaction The dealership has won the award every year since it was first offered in 1985 OThe Overland Park Convention Visitors Bureau has awarded Mervin Laman its Travel Industry Award The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the tourism industry Laman is president of the Central States Shrine Association tings minars The Heart of America a i chapter of the Professional Secretaries International will meet at 6 pm Monday at Italian Restaurant 3733 Oak Trafficway Joyce Harwood a staff planner for the Westin Crown Center hotel will speak Reservations must be made by Friday The cost which includes dinner is $12 For information call Cheryl Ball at 474-8100 Ext 315 The Mo-Kan Rainbow chapter of the American Business Association will meet at 6:30 pm June 14 at Antioch Park Shelterhouse No 3 6501 Antioch Road Merri-am Social hour will begin at 6 pm The cost is $10 For information call Norma Sells at 492-3924 The Credit Financial Development division of the Kansas City chapter National As-sociation of Credit Management will meet at 6 pm June 14 at the Park Place Hotel 1601 Universal Ave Social hour will begin at 5:30 pm The cost is $21 For information or to make reservations call Don Hogsett at 471-1466 The Kansas City Advertising Club is sponsoring Agency Day at noon June 14 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center hotel Social hour will begin at 11:30 am John Smith vice chairman and director of creative services worldwide for Leo Burnett Co Inc Chicago will speak Reservations must be made by Friday The cost is $15 for club members and $25 for non-members For information call 753-4088 Rail dispatchers moving to Omaha BUSINESS By Steve Everly KC economy to lose 145 jobs About 145 jobs will be lost from the Kansas City area economy because of consolidation of the Union Pacific dispatching operations Most of the jobs will be transferred to the headquarters in Omaha Neb said Mark Davis a railroad spokesman The first phase of the job transfers will start Wednesday when administrative support jobs are moved The rest of the jobs involving Union Pacific train dispatchers who now work in Kansas City and Kansas City Kan will be transferred in January The transfers come as Union Pacific readies its new $55 million dispatch center in Omaha that will dispatch and monitor trains along the 21500 miles of track in 20 Midwest and Western states It will eventually employ 800 persons Davis said That job is now performed by regional dispatching offices such as the ones in the Kansas City area Each regional dispatcher keeps track of 10 to 12 trains he said But that system is considered antiquated by Union Pacific officials The new state-of-the-art dispatching center will give train dispatchers the sort of computer assistance now used by air traffic controllers Davis said The Omaha center is scheduled to absorb the Kansas City dispatch operations in January Administrative staffers who already have gone to Omaha include crew dispatchers who schedule the personnel needed to operate each train The dispatching center is expected to reduce Union expenses by using fewer exploy-ees Of the 55 train dispatchers now working in the Kansas City area only 44 will be transferred to Omaha That reduction should be achieved through employee attrition such as retirements Davis said Additional savings will come from increased efficiency of the equipment Davis said The computers will know the terrain of each train route which will allow the railroad to closely match locomotive needs to the train loads he said Officials with the Omaha-based Transportation and Communications Union which represents the support staff say this is just the latest move in Union consolidation of its operations in Omaha The main reason for the transfer is a Nebraska law that gives companies tax credits for bringing jobs to the state said Gary McCall general director of the union Union Pacific officials said the tax credit law was a in the decision McCall said moving the jobs has caused some difficulties for employees who must decide whether to move to Omaha or lose their jobs He estimates that about 75 percent of the administrative support staff decided to move to Omaha JD Reece buys yet another firm By Sam Nicholas Star business financial writer The JD Reece Co residential brokerage has pu-rhased the assets of Paul Hamilton Co Realtors in the latest acquisition for the fast-growing Reece firm clearly makes us the No 1 Realtor in the Johnson County said Jerry Reece president of the Reece company No purchase price was disclosed The 53-year-old Hamilton company posted about $155 million in sales volume last year and the Reece company had about $360 million Reece Steve Sweet executive vice president and chief operating officer for JD Reece Co and Dwight Householter president of the Hamilton firm announced the purchase Monday in a meeting with Hamilton employees Sweet said the Hamilton headquarters in the Southgate Financial Center at 76th Street and State Line Road Prairie Village will become the Southgate office of the Reece firm A second Hamilton office at 6705 91st St will be merged with the Southgate office 80 licensed real estate associates will join the 325 associates of the Reece firm Householter will be general manager of the Southgate office David Costello a vice president with Hamilton also will manage the office Hamilton traditionally has been strong in the Country Club and State Line corridor markets an area where Reece wanted to boost its business Reece said do a great job in that he said He estimated the combined firm has about a fifth of the business in the southwest quad rant of the metropolitan area The acquisition boosts the company to second place in the Kansas City market behind Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Services The Reece Co was formed early in 1987 out of the area assets of Kroh Brothers Realty Co In January it acquired Este-bo Associates Inc of Olathe In the last 2V4 years the Reece Co also has acquired Sam Moore Co Realtors Century 21 Assurance Inc in Olathe and AB May Real Estate Co Inc The -addition of the Southgate office will give Reece 10 offices in the metropolitan area nine of them south of the Missouri River and one in the Northland Agency to sell loans from bank closings By Chris Lester Th Str' real estate editor The Kansas City regional office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is sponsoring an unusual public auction Wednesday of loans acquired through bank closings in Kansas Missouri and Nebraska a very new said Margaret Penrose asset marketing specialist with the FDIC which insures bank deposits The auction which offers 1617 loans with a total book value of $41 million is the first of its kind for the Kansas City regional office A handful of similar sales have been held elsewhere in the country It is scheduled for 1 pm Wednesday at the recently opened Embassy Suites Hotel at Executive Hills North near Kansas City International Airport a new direction for the said Kirk Dove a principal in Ross-Dove Co Inc of Foster City Calif which is serving as auctioneer want to be in the business of owning The FDIC increasingly resorts to public auction to liquidate assets obtained in bank closings New owners of closed banks typically are allowed to pick and choose which bank assets they want to keep often rejecting parts of the loan portfolio The FDIC then is responsible for administering and disposing of the unwanted loans Public auctions spark a but spirited bidding Dove said The auctions attract upscale comfortable with buying paper assets The FDIC portfolio will be offered as a single package and also in 16 separate parts ranging in book value from $52000 to $8 million The packages include The FDIC portfolio will be offered as a single package and also in 16 separate parts- performing and non-performing loans of all types ranging from real estate and commercial to energy loans Most of the loans are from Kansas banks Among Kansas City area offerings: A mixed package of 279 loans with a book value of $8 million will be offered The loans come from closure of the Mission State Bank and Trust Co Douglass State Bank Indian Springs State Bank Kansas American Bank Republic Bank and Bank of Louisburg Thirty-one Kansas City area real estate loans from the same banks will be offered as a package with a total book value of more than $16 million And 55 distressed assets of closed area banks will be offered The package which is designed for speculative investors carries a book value of more than $21 million Because of the varying quality and mix of loan packages Dove said sale prices typically ranged from 5 cents to 80 cents per dollar of book value results have been mixed Penrose said But had tremendous Penrose said 44 investor groups had paid $500 each to inspect FDIC files If successful she said more auctions may be held KCK developer plans downtown restaurant By Phillip stiff writer The developer of a multimil-lion-dollar redevelopment project in downtown Kansas City Kan has announced plans to renovate a vacant building on Minnesota Avenue in hopes of attracting a restaurant Work on the facade of the 6000-square-foot building at 645 Minnesota Ave is scheduled to begin Monday developer Robert Cotitta said today The building for many years housed the Thomas Cafeteria and later a fast-food restaurant Cotitta said he met Monday with a local restaurant operator to discuss the site Major interior renovations will not begin until a tenant is chosen If efforts to lure a restaurant fail the space would be offered to commercial or retail tenants catering to downtown workers Cotitta said The owner and developer of the property is C-XXXI Properties a four-person general partnership Cotitta declined to name the three other partners Renaissance Center Inc another Cotitta firm has de-velped 50400 square feet of office space in downtown Kansas City Kan since 1983 Renaissance Center Inc has been attempting to secure a 10-year federal lease to house 300 US Department of Housing and Urban Development employees The development company apparently had submitted the winning bid for the contract but the award was canceled abruptly in April The 62500-square-foot office building would have been the largest built in Kansas City Kan in nearly two decades The federal government opened a new round of bidding for the lease in May but is not expected to award the contract for months BUSINESS BRIEFING Tuesday market The stock market moved slightly higher in early trading today following its sharp decline on Monday The Dow Jones industrial average was up 368 to 248438 as of 9 am Gainers led losers about 3-to-2 on the New York Stock Exchange On Wall Street The early Value Line index of about 1700 stocks on which the Kansas City Board of Trade stock-index futures contract is based was 26481 compared with 26461 at the close Monday Money Dollar gains The US dollar was sharply higher in Europe today buoyed by investor nervousness in East Asian markets In Tokyo the dollar rose 198 yen to a closing 14263 yen In London it cost $1566 to buy one British pound compared with $15815 late Monday Other dollar rates at midmorning compared with rates late Monday: 19873 West German marks up from 19639 67515 French francs up from 66645 and 12023 Canadian dollars up from 12003 Gold lower five major bullion dealers fixed a recommended midmorning price of $365 compared with $36625 late Monday In Zurich the bid price was $36450 compared with $366 late Monday Silver was quoted in London at a bid price of $523 a troy ounce down from $531 The nation Eastern bankruptcy Strike-torn Eastern Airlines should move ahead with efforts to turn itself into a smaller leaner airline because its unions have failed to come up with an acceptable buyout plan a bankrupty judge said The decision Monday by US Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland came after Eastern creditors expressed reservations about a buyout proposal from a group led by unions and Chicago commodities trader Joseph Ritchie Lifland had set a Monday deadline for the group to submit a viable offer Although he did not reject it the judge said he would grant no more extensions for the group to refine its proposal Instead he directed Eastern to begin talks with creditors over a company plan to sell $18 billion in assets and reorganize as a smaller carrier Hellmuth Obata to share in design of Texas stadium By Chris Lester Th Star's real eitila editor The Kansas City office of Hellmuth Obata Kas-sabaum Inc has been selected to help design a multipurpose domed sports stadium in San Antonio Texas The San Antonio City Council confirmed the selection of a design and engineering group for the planned 65000-seat stadium May 18 San Antonio voters approved a referendum to finance the $100 million project in January "We have the opportunity to create the most flexible multievent center said Ron Labinski of Hellmuth Obata design principal for the project The new stadium will accommodate professional football games concerts trade shows family shows and conventions when it is completed in the fall of 1992 HOK Sports Facilities Group the Kansas City office of the St Louis-based architectural firm is an industry leader in professional football and baseball stadium design It will share leadership of the design project with two San Antonio firms Kansas City is regarded as a hot bed of sports facility design In addition to the Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum office Kansas City is home to Howard Needles Tammen Bergendoff and an office of Ellerbe Becket Inc design firms with ample sports experience Recent HOK Sports Facilities Group projects include Joe Robbie Stadium for the Miami Dolphins Pilot Field in Buffalo NY the Florida Sun-coast Dome in St Petersburg Fla a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox and the Camden Yards Twin Stadium Complex in Baltimore Md.