BUSINESS BRIEFS
Firm wins right to hire nonunion
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i-based Pacific Elevator Corp. said yesterday it won the right to hire non-union employees after a year of legal battles with the International Union of Elevator Constructors.
Pacific Elevator owner James Hutchinson said the small company sought to end its ties with the union last year after a dispute over hiring workers from the Mainland. The National Labor Relations Board in September approved the move, Hutchinson said.
IUEC business representative Thaddeus Tomei said the union will try again for union representation at the company, which Hutchinson said has four employees.
FISH TACO EATERY TO OPEN AT WARD
California-based Wahoo's Fish Taco is scheduled to open its first Hawai'i location Jan. 4 at the Ward Gateway Center.
The franchise will be jointly owned by siblings Stephanie, Mike and Noel Pietsch. The three are children of kam'aina business leader Mike Pietsch, chief executive officer of Title Guaranty.
"The first time we visited a Wahoo's Fish Taco on the Mainland we just knew it was a perfect fit for Hawai'i," said Stephanie Pietsch.
Wahoo's Fish Taco was started in 1988 by three brothers in Costa Mesa, Calif. The chain has 40 restaurants in California and Colorado.
GOLD PRICES NEAR $500 AN OUNCE
Fueled by oil-rich investors, central banks and newly prosperous Asian buyers, gold prices flirted with $500 an ounce yesterday, a level not seen since 1983.
Gold soared $6.20 to $498.30 an ounce, near 18-year highs. Futures contracts for delivery of gold in February have already punched through the $500 barrier, settling at $502.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Platinum closed at $1,001.10, the highest since 1980.
JAPAN JOBLESS RATE UP TO 4.5%
Japan's unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in October, suggesting a slowdown in the job market despite steady improvements in corporate profits, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.
Japanese economy and banking minister Kaoru Yosano downplayed the hike, attributing it to people quitting their current jobs to look for better ones.
