Asian stocks swung between gains and losses after China raised the reserve requirements for the country’s banks to tame inflation, fueling concern more tightening measures will curb economic growth. AIA Group Ltd. advanced in Hong Kong.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the No. 1 mining company which counts China as its biggest market, lost 0.3 percent after China raised banks’ reserve ratios to cool inflation. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd., a builder controlled by the country’s construction ministry, dropped 2.1 percent. AIA Group Ltd., Asia’s No. 3 insurer by market value, gained 4 percent after saying its value of new business rose 21 percent in the first quarter. Softbank Corp., Japan’s third-largest wireless carrier, fell 2.4 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its investment rating on the shares.
“The tightening measures are dragging on, and this isn’t good for stocks or the economy,” said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist in Tokyo at Resona Bank Ltd., which oversees the equivalent of $57 billion in assets. “There’s too much uncertainty for investors to be confident enough to take positions.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.2 percent to 136.02 at 11:09 a.m. in Tokyo, after falling as much as 0.2 percent. About five shares rose for every three that fell on the 1,023-member gauge. The measure fell 0.5 percent last week, reversing three straight weeks of gains.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.2 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index climbed 0.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 0.3 percent.
U.S. Futures
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6 percent, erasing earlier losses, while China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index declined 0.1 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.1 percent today. In New York, the index gained 0.4 percent on April 15 after an index of consumer sentiment improved more than expected and a gauge of manufacturing gained the most in a year.
In Sydney, BHP, which receives a quarter of its revenue from China, lost 0.3 percent to A$47.37, the biggest drag on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. China Resources Land Ltd., a state- controlled developer, dropped 2.5 percent to HK$14.24. China Overseas Land dropped 2.1 percent to HK$16.14.
In Tokyo, Fanuc Corp., the robot maker which counts Asia including China as its biggest market for sales, dropped 0.2 percent to 13,120 yen. Komatsu Ltd., a machinery maker which counts China as its largest market, fell 1 percent to 2,757 yen.
China Policy Tightening
Reserve ratios will rise a half point from April 21, the People’s Bank of China said on its website yesterday, pushing the requirement to a record 20.5 percent for the biggest lenders. The move came less than two weeks after an interest-rate increase. Zhou sees no “absolute” limit on how high reserve requirements can go, he said April 16.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.4 percent this year through April 15, compared with gains of 4.9 percent by the S&P 500 and 0.7 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.1 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.5 times for the S&P 500 and 11.2 times for the Stoxx 600.
In Hong Kong, AIA Group rose 4 percent to HK$26.05, the third-biggest support to the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. The company said the value of new business rose 21 percent to $182 million from a year earlier in the first quarter as it sold more-profitable policies.
Softbank, Tepco
In Tokyo, KDDI Corp. lost 0.6 percent to 498,000 yen. Tokyo Electric Power, better known as Tepco, plans to sell shares in the mobile-phone operator to help fund compensation payouts to victims of the nuclear crisis at Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant in Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Tepco shares gained 0.2 percent to 470 yen.
Softbank dropped 2.4 percent to 3,280 yen, the third- biggest drag on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Goldman Sachs cut its investment rating on the company to “sell” from “neutral” on concern the mobile-phone market in Japan is mature and there is a limited scope for growth.
Among stocks that rose, Woolworths Ltd., Australia’s biggest retailer, gained 0.7 percent to A$26.72, the third- largest support on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index. The company said third-quarter sales rose 5.1 percent as demand at its supermarkets countered falling revenue at its Big W discount outlets.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Tata stands by $26bn India investment
The Tata group, India’s powerful salt-to-steel conglomerate, has reiterated plans to invest $26bn in the country over the next five years, in a bid to dispel a belief that it is turning away from its home market.
Kishor Chaukar, managing director of the group’s strategic arm Tata Industries, said the Tata group intended to invest heavily in India’s power, steel and automotive sectors, as it seeks to double group revenues to about $150bn in the next five years.
The planned $26bn investments are predominantly for projects that have been previously announced and are already in the pipeline. They include a $3.7bn, 4,000-megawatt power plant under way in the western state of Gujarat, and a $4.4bn integrated steel plant that has been bogged down by difficulties in acquiring land in the state of Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency.
However, Mr Chaukar’s emphasis of Tata’s commitment to the domestic market came just a week after he told the Financial Times that the company was responding to an “alarming” deterioration in India’s business climate by encouraging group firms to look for investment options overseas to reduce “one-country” risk.
In a Sunday interview with the semi-official Press Trust of India, in which he outlined Tata’s ambitious plans for the country, Mr Chaukar downplayed the Tata group’s appetite for additional overseas acquisitions.
Ratan Tata, its chairman, has been open in expressing his dissatisfaction with the country’s governance, after being caught up in a high-profile telecommunications scandal.
Mr Tata was outraged when recordings of his private telephone conversations with his powerful corporate lobbyist, Niira Radia, were leaked to media organisations, which made them available on their websites.
For a company that prides itself on its image of probity, the public scrutiny of Mr Tata discussing behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to secure prized telecom spectrum with a close aide was an embarrassment, although neither Mr Tata nor any Tata group company has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Last week, Mr Chaukar warned that public frustration over the telecom scandal threatened to lead to nationwide protests against a political system seen as tainted by corruption.
Kishor Chaukar, managing director of the group’s strategic arm Tata Industries, said the Tata group intended to invest heavily in India’s power, steel and automotive sectors, as it seeks to double group revenues to about $150bn in the next five years.
The planned $26bn investments are predominantly for projects that have been previously announced and are already in the pipeline. They include a $3.7bn, 4,000-megawatt power plant under way in the western state of Gujarat, and a $4.4bn integrated steel plant that has been bogged down by difficulties in acquiring land in the state of Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency.
However, Mr Chaukar’s emphasis of Tata’s commitment to the domestic market came just a week after he told the Financial Times that the company was responding to an “alarming” deterioration in India’s business climate by encouraging group firms to look for investment options overseas to reduce “one-country” risk.
In a Sunday interview with the semi-official Press Trust of India, in which he outlined Tata’s ambitious plans for the country, Mr Chaukar downplayed the Tata group’s appetite for additional overseas acquisitions.
Ratan Tata, its chairman, has been open in expressing his dissatisfaction with the country’s governance, after being caught up in a high-profile telecommunications scandal.
Mr Tata was outraged when recordings of his private telephone conversations with his powerful corporate lobbyist, Niira Radia, were leaked to media organisations, which made them available on their websites.
For a company that prides itself on its image of probity, the public scrutiny of Mr Tata discussing behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to secure prized telecom spectrum with a close aide was an embarrassment, although neither Mr Tata nor any Tata group company has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Last week, Mr Chaukar warned that public frustration over the telecom scandal threatened to lead to nationwide protests against a political system seen as tainted by corruption.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Distilling the Wisdom of C.E.O.’s
This article was adapted from “The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons From CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed,” by Adam Bryant, author of the weekly “Corner Office” column in The New York Times. The book, published Tuesday by Times Books, analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews with more than 70 leaders.
IMAGINE 100 people working at a large company. They’re all middle managers, around 35 years old. They’re all smart. All collegial. All hard-working. They all have positive attitudes. They’re all good communicators.
So what will determine who gets the next promotion, and the one after that? Which of them, when the time comes, will get that corner office?
In other words, what does it take to lead an organization — whether it’s a sports team, a nonprofit, a start-up or a multinational corporation? What are the X factors?
Interviews I conducted with more than 70 chief executives and other leaders for Corner Office in The New York Times point to five essentials for success — qualities that most of those C.E.O.’s share and look for in people they hire.
The good news: these traits are not genetic. It’s not as if you have to be tall or left-handed. These qualities are developed through attitude, habit and discipline — factors that are within your control. They will make you stand out. They will make you a better employee, manager and leader. They will lift the trajectory of your career and speed your progress.
These aren’t theories. They come from decades of collective experience of top executives who have learned firsthand what it takes to succeed. From the corner office, they can watch others attempt a similar climb and notice the qualities that set people apart. These C.E.O.’s offered myriad lessons and insights on the art of managing and leading, but they all shared five qualities: Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mind-set. Fearlessness.
What follows are excerpts from chapters on each of them.
Passionate Curiosity
Many successful chief executives are passionately curious people. It is a side of them rarely seen in the media and in investor meetings, and there is a reason for that. In business, C.E.O.’s are supposed to project confidence and breezy authority as they take an audience through their projections of steady growth. Certainty is the game face they wear. They’ve cracked the code.
But get them away from these familiar scripts, and a different side emerges. They share stories about failures and doubts and mistakes. They ask big-picture questions. They wonder why things work the way they do and whether those things can be improved upon. They want to know people’s stories, and what they do.
It’s this relentless questioning that leads entrepreneurs to spot new opportunities and helps managers understand the people who work for them, and how to get them to work together effectively. It is no coincidence that more than one executive uttered the same phrase when describing what, ultimately, is the C.E.O.’s job: “I am a student of human nature.”
The C.E.O.’s are not necessarily the smartest people in the room, but they are the best students — the letters could just as easily stand for “chief education officer.”
“You learn from everybody,” said Alan R. Mulally, the chief executive of the Ford Motor Company. “I’ve always just wanted to learn everything, to understand anybody that I was around — why they thought what they did, why they did what they did, what worked for them, what didn’t work.”
Why “passionate curiosity”? The phrase is more than the sum of its parts, which individually fall short in capturing the quality that sets these C.E.O.’s apart. There are plenty of people who are passionate, but many of their passions are focused on just one area. There are a lot of curious people in the world, but they can also be wallflowers.
But “passionate curiosity” — a phrase used by Nell Minow, the co-founder of the Corporate Library — better captures the infectious sense of fascination that some people have with everything around them.
Passionate curiosity, Ms. Minow said, “is indispensable, no matter what the job is. You want somebody who is just alert and very awake and engaged with the world and wanting to know more.”
Though chief executives are paid to have answers, their greatest contributions to their organizations may be asking the right questions. They recognize that they can’t have the answer to everything, but they can push their company in new directions and marshal the collective energy of their employees by asking the right questions.
IMAGINE 100 people working at a large company. They’re all middle managers, around 35 years old. They’re all smart. All collegial. All hard-working. They all have positive attitudes. They’re all good communicators.
So what will determine who gets the next promotion, and the one after that? Which of them, when the time comes, will get that corner office?
In other words, what does it take to lead an organization — whether it’s a sports team, a nonprofit, a start-up or a multinational corporation? What are the X factors?
Interviews I conducted with more than 70 chief executives and other leaders for Corner Office in The New York Times point to five essentials for success — qualities that most of those C.E.O.’s share and look for in people they hire.
The good news: these traits are not genetic. It’s not as if you have to be tall or left-handed. These qualities are developed through attitude, habit and discipline — factors that are within your control. They will make you stand out. They will make you a better employee, manager and leader. They will lift the trajectory of your career and speed your progress.
These aren’t theories. They come from decades of collective experience of top executives who have learned firsthand what it takes to succeed. From the corner office, they can watch others attempt a similar climb and notice the qualities that set people apart. These C.E.O.’s offered myriad lessons and insights on the art of managing and leading, but they all shared five qualities: Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mind-set. Fearlessness.
What follows are excerpts from chapters on each of them.
Passionate Curiosity
Many successful chief executives are passionately curious people. It is a side of them rarely seen in the media and in investor meetings, and there is a reason for that. In business, C.E.O.’s are supposed to project confidence and breezy authority as they take an audience through their projections of steady growth. Certainty is the game face they wear. They’ve cracked the code.
But get them away from these familiar scripts, and a different side emerges. They share stories about failures and doubts and mistakes. They ask big-picture questions. They wonder why things work the way they do and whether those things can be improved upon. They want to know people’s stories, and what they do.
It’s this relentless questioning that leads entrepreneurs to spot new opportunities and helps managers understand the people who work for them, and how to get them to work together effectively. It is no coincidence that more than one executive uttered the same phrase when describing what, ultimately, is the C.E.O.’s job: “I am a student of human nature.”
The C.E.O.’s are not necessarily the smartest people in the room, but they are the best students — the letters could just as easily stand for “chief education officer.”
“You learn from everybody,” said Alan R. Mulally, the chief executive of the Ford Motor Company. “I’ve always just wanted to learn everything, to understand anybody that I was around — why they thought what they did, why they did what they did, what worked for them, what didn’t work.”
Why “passionate curiosity”? The phrase is more than the sum of its parts, which individually fall short in capturing the quality that sets these C.E.O.’s apart. There are plenty of people who are passionate, but many of their passions are focused on just one area. There are a lot of curious people in the world, but they can also be wallflowers.
But “passionate curiosity” — a phrase used by Nell Minow, the co-founder of the Corporate Library — better captures the infectious sense of fascination that some people have with everything around them.
Passionate curiosity, Ms. Minow said, “is indispensable, no matter what the job is. You want somebody who is just alert and very awake and engaged with the world and wanting to know more.”
Though chief executives are paid to have answers, their greatest contributions to their organizations may be asking the right questions. They recognize that they can’t have the answer to everything, but they can push their company in new directions and marshal the collective energy of their employees by asking the right questions.
ICICI Bank’s U.K., Canada Subsidiaries May Cut Lending to Indian Companies
The U.K. and Canada-based subsidiaries of ICICI Bank Ltd. (ICICIBC), India’s second-largest lender, may cut credit to companies from the Asian nation as regulators order banks to reduce geographical risk.
“We have followed an international growth strategy on India-backed lending,” Chief Financial Officer N.S. Kannan said in an interview today. Regulators “do not want undue concentration of assets on any single overseas geography as part of overall risk management. The balance sheet of our overseas subsidiaries in the U.K. and Canada,” may see a decline.
Western banking regulators are strengthening rules after being forced to bail out lenders during the financial crisis. Taxpayers in the U.K. spent 65.8 billion pounds ($108 billion) rescuing Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc. (LLOY) Regulatory concerns may make it tougher for Indian companies to access cheaper borrowing rates overseas to expand and acquire companies.
Assets of ICICI Bank UK fell 3 percent to $7 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31 from the preceding quarter, according to a presentation on the company’s website. ICICI Bank Canada’s assets have declined 6 percent to C$4.7 billion from C$5 billion in the same period.
“We are proceeding cautiously with respect to our growth strategy for overseas subsidiaries,” said Kannan.
Regulators in the U.K. and Canada objected to ICICI Bank using deposits in the two nations to lend to Indian companies, Times of India reported earlier today.
“We have followed an international growth strategy on India-backed lending,” Chief Financial Officer N.S. Kannan said in an interview today. Regulators “do not want undue concentration of assets on any single overseas geography as part of overall risk management. The balance sheet of our overseas subsidiaries in the U.K. and Canada,” may see a decline.
Western banking regulators are strengthening rules after being forced to bail out lenders during the financial crisis. Taxpayers in the U.K. spent 65.8 billion pounds ($108 billion) rescuing Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc. (LLOY) Regulatory concerns may make it tougher for Indian companies to access cheaper borrowing rates overseas to expand and acquire companies.
Assets of ICICI Bank UK fell 3 percent to $7 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31 from the preceding quarter, according to a presentation on the company’s website. ICICI Bank Canada’s assets have declined 6 percent to C$4.7 billion from C$5 billion in the same period.
“We are proceeding cautiously with respect to our growth strategy for overseas subsidiaries,” said Kannan.
Regulators in the U.K. and Canada objected to ICICI Bank using deposits in the two nations to lend to Indian companies, Times of India reported earlier today.
Indian inflation data add to rate rise pressure
India’s headline inflation jumped to just under 9 per cent in March, defying promises by the nation’s policymakers that price pressures would be brought under greater control.
The highest inflation rate among any big economy is piling pressure on India’s central bank to raise lending rates more aggressively in coming weeks and trampling on optimistic government forecasts.
Persistent inflationary pressures are also fuelling a view that Asia’s third-largest economy has made a structural shift to higher prices, a move likely to be unpopular with India’s largely poor 1.2bn population.
Figures released on Friday showed that the wholesale price index had edged up to a year-on-year rate of 8.98 per cent last month compared with 8.31 per cent in February. The data overturned many forecasts by economists, who had expected inflation to come in at a more modest 8.4 per cent last month.
Stubbornly high inflation, now increasingly spurred by rising energy prices and strengthening demand, has thwarted the best efforts of the Congress party-led government to relieve price pressures on consumers.
The government had pledged to reduce inflation to below 7 per cent by the end of March. Many economists had viewed that target as overly optimistic and way beyond the comfort zone identified by the Reserve Bank of India.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the government planning commission, said on Friday that inflation had “not come under control” as much as the government would have liked.
“The underlying cause of inflation remains a cause of worry,” he said.
Rising food prices have for months been a big concern in India’s fast-growing economy. Economists and industrialists are increasingly expressing fears about more general price pressure and rising fuel prices.
“Inflation is proving difficult to tame and continued Reserve Bank of India tightening is needed, with the next [likely] rate hike coming at the May meeting,” said Leif Lybecker Eskesen, HSBC’s chief economist for India.
“With inflation numbers of this magnitude, especially core inflation, [the] RBI may feel compelled to be a bit more aggressive next time around and move by 50 basis points.”
In March, price pressure came from rising energy costs which surged 12.9 per cent year on year, compared with 11.5 per cent in February. But primary food inflation slowed to 9.5 per cent year on year in March from 10.6 per cent in February.
India’s fast-growing economy has wrestled with inflationary pressures throughout the global financial crisis and its aftermath. The Reserve Bank of India has raised interest rates eight times during the past year in an effort to cool rising prices while maintaining an economic growth rate of 9 per cent this year.
While some senior policymakers, including the prime minister’s economic advisory panel, insist that India needs to return quickly to targets of modest inflation – nearer 3.5 per cent – others appear more comfortable that the country can live with high inflation so long as it maintains high levels of growth.
The latest inflation figures shook the local financial markets. Sensex, the benchmark index on the Bombay Stock Exchange, fell 252 points to 19,445 points.
The highest inflation rate among any big economy is piling pressure on India’s central bank to raise lending rates more aggressively in coming weeks and trampling on optimistic government forecasts.
Persistent inflationary pressures are also fuelling a view that Asia’s third-largest economy has made a structural shift to higher prices, a move likely to be unpopular with India’s largely poor 1.2bn population.
Figures released on Friday showed that the wholesale price index had edged up to a year-on-year rate of 8.98 per cent last month compared with 8.31 per cent in February. The data overturned many forecasts by economists, who had expected inflation to come in at a more modest 8.4 per cent last month.
Stubbornly high inflation, now increasingly spurred by rising energy prices and strengthening demand, has thwarted the best efforts of the Congress party-led government to relieve price pressures on consumers.
The government had pledged to reduce inflation to below 7 per cent by the end of March. Many economists had viewed that target as overly optimistic and way beyond the comfort zone identified by the Reserve Bank of India.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the government planning commission, said on Friday that inflation had “not come under control” as much as the government would have liked.
“The underlying cause of inflation remains a cause of worry,” he said.
Rising food prices have for months been a big concern in India’s fast-growing economy. Economists and industrialists are increasingly expressing fears about more general price pressure and rising fuel prices.
“Inflation is proving difficult to tame and continued Reserve Bank of India tightening is needed, with the next [likely] rate hike coming at the May meeting,” said Leif Lybecker Eskesen, HSBC’s chief economist for India.
“With inflation numbers of this magnitude, especially core inflation, [the] RBI may feel compelled to be a bit more aggressive next time around and move by 50 basis points.”
In March, price pressure came from rising energy costs which surged 12.9 per cent year on year, compared with 11.5 per cent in February. But primary food inflation slowed to 9.5 per cent year on year in March from 10.6 per cent in February.
India’s fast-growing economy has wrestled with inflationary pressures throughout the global financial crisis and its aftermath. The Reserve Bank of India has raised interest rates eight times during the past year in an effort to cool rising prices while maintaining an economic growth rate of 9 per cent this year.
While some senior policymakers, including the prime minister’s economic advisory panel, insist that India needs to return quickly to targets of modest inflation – nearer 3.5 per cent – others appear more comfortable that the country can live with high inflation so long as it maintains high levels of growth.
The latest inflation figures shook the local financial markets. Sensex, the benchmark index on the Bombay Stock Exchange, fell 252 points to 19,445 points.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Unions Woo Airport Security Screeners
Public employee unions may be taking a shellacking in Wisconsin and Ohio, but that has not discouraged the unions representing federal employees from vying to recruit 44,000 airport screeners. It is the largest unionization effort of federal workers in the nation’s history.
By next Tuesday, the screeners, employees of the Transportation Security Administration, are to finish casting their votes on whether to unionize. Almost everyone agrees that they will choose to do so.
That may seem surprising when so many public employee unions are being forced into wage freezes and paying more toward health coverage and pensions, and when they have become the target of widespread public criticism. Many Republican leaders say public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively, asserting that it pushes up costs for taxpayers and impedes management’s flexibility. What is more, they warn, letting airport screeners unionize could jeopardize national security if strikes and work slowdowns crippled airports and resulted in inadequate security checks.
“F.B.I., C.I.A. and Secret Service personnel do not have collective bargaining for good reason, and T.S.A. personnel should be no different,” said Senator Roger F. Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who sponsored a bill that would have stripped the screeners of the right to unionize. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted it down last February in a party-line vote.
At the same time, it is hard to see the benefit of a union for the screeners because federal employee unions, except postal workers, are generally not allowed to bargain over wages, health benefits or pensions, all of which are usually set by law.
The air traffic controllers are represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which was founded in 1987, six years after President Ronald Reagan disbanded a previous air traffic controllers’ union for engaging in an illegal strike.
But the Obama administration asserts that unionization will improve low morale and lead to better performance and service to the public from screeners, who have the often-difficult job of herding impatient passengers and deciphering X-rays.
Many T.S.A. workers are eager to have a union bargain for them over uniform allowances, parking and clearer rules on sick leave, work shifts, transfers to different airports and awarding promotions. And ask a few screeners about morale, and you will quickly get an earful.
“It’s a tough place to work, and I’ve seen a lot of people leave because of the stress,” said Marie LeClair, a screener for eight years at Logan International Airport in Boston. “We’re the black sheep of the federal government. There are no work floor regulations for us so when there’s an issue, management’s attitude is: ‘It’s our way or the highway.’ ”
Stacy Bodtmann, who earns $39,000 after nine years as a screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, said screeners “don’t have any voice on the job.”
“People are very enthusiastic about a union,” she added. “People feel the union is going to change things and help improve morale, help with scheduling and training and pay issues.”
Even though Congress sets their pay levels, many T.S.A. employees hope a union will help change the agency’s system for determining how workers get raises, a system they say is opaque and riddled with favoritism.
“What they’re looking for is fairness and transparency and not a workplace that is driven by favoritism or who you know,” said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which, along with the American Federation of Government Employees, is trying to woo the workers.
Justin Bourque, a former Army corporal and now a behavior detection officer at Newark, said T.S.A. workers were not treated with respect.
“I was treated with more respect and more like an adult when I was in the military, where I had no rights,” he said, complaining that when a worker made a mistake, there was no effort to retrain, often just a blanket admonition not to repeat the error. “The management staff treats us like we’re children.”
By next Tuesday, the screeners, employees of the Transportation Security Administration, are to finish casting their votes on whether to unionize. Almost everyone agrees that they will choose to do so.
That may seem surprising when so many public employee unions are being forced into wage freezes and paying more toward health coverage and pensions, and when they have become the target of widespread public criticism. Many Republican leaders say public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively, asserting that it pushes up costs for taxpayers and impedes management’s flexibility. What is more, they warn, letting airport screeners unionize could jeopardize national security if strikes and work slowdowns crippled airports and resulted in inadequate security checks.
“F.B.I., C.I.A. and Secret Service personnel do not have collective bargaining for good reason, and T.S.A. personnel should be no different,” said Senator Roger F. Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who sponsored a bill that would have stripped the screeners of the right to unionize. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted it down last February in a party-line vote.
At the same time, it is hard to see the benefit of a union for the screeners because federal employee unions, except postal workers, are generally not allowed to bargain over wages, health benefits or pensions, all of which are usually set by law.
The air traffic controllers are represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which was founded in 1987, six years after President Ronald Reagan disbanded a previous air traffic controllers’ union for engaging in an illegal strike.
But the Obama administration asserts that unionization will improve low morale and lead to better performance and service to the public from screeners, who have the often-difficult job of herding impatient passengers and deciphering X-rays.
Many T.S.A. workers are eager to have a union bargain for them over uniform allowances, parking and clearer rules on sick leave, work shifts, transfers to different airports and awarding promotions. And ask a few screeners about morale, and you will quickly get an earful.
“It’s a tough place to work, and I’ve seen a lot of people leave because of the stress,” said Marie LeClair, a screener for eight years at Logan International Airport in Boston. “We’re the black sheep of the federal government. There are no work floor regulations for us so when there’s an issue, management’s attitude is: ‘It’s our way or the highway.’ ”
Stacy Bodtmann, who earns $39,000 after nine years as a screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, said screeners “don’t have any voice on the job.”
“People are very enthusiastic about a union,” she added. “People feel the union is going to change things and help improve morale, help with scheduling and training and pay issues.”
Even though Congress sets their pay levels, many T.S.A. employees hope a union will help change the agency’s system for determining how workers get raises, a system they say is opaque and riddled with favoritism.
“What they’re looking for is fairness and transparency and not a workplace that is driven by favoritism or who you know,” said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which, along with the American Federation of Government Employees, is trying to woo the workers.
Justin Bourque, a former Army corporal and now a behavior detection officer at Newark, said T.S.A. workers were not treated with respect.
“I was treated with more respect and more like an adult when I was in the military, where I had no rights,” he said, complaining that when a worker made a mistake, there was no effort to retrain, often just a blanket admonition not to repeat the error. “The management staff treats us like we’re children.”
Inflation Accelerates More Than Forecast to 8.98% Adding Pressure on Rates
India’s inflation accelerated more than economists estimated in March as the cost of fuel and manufactured goods rose, putting pressure on policy makers to raise interest rates in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The benchmark wholesale-price index rose 8.98 percent from a year earlier after an 8.31 percent gain in February, the commerce ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today. That exceeded all 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey, where the median forecast was for an 8.36 percent increase.
Expansion in India’s $1.3 trillion economy has boosted consumer demand and spurred manufacturing, car sales and credit growth, stoking price risks and prompting the central bank to raise rates eight times since early 2010. Inflation in the first quarter has exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast that price increases would be 8 percent by the end of March this year.
“Inflation is going to remain uncomfortably high this year,” said Leif Eskesen, Singapore-based chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. “The RBI needs to raise rates more aggressively and we are looking at three more rate increases this year.”
Stocks dropped the most in seven weeks, with the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index falling 1.6 percent. The yield on the 8.08 percent bond due in August 2022 rose 4 basis points to 8.24 percent, the highest level since Feb. 8, as of the 5 p.m. close in Mumbai. The rupee strengthened 0.4 percent to 44.33 a dollar, paring the week’s loss to 0.6 percent.
Rate Increase
Rising oil and commodity costs and sustained economic growth are escalating pressure on Asian central banks to boost borrowing costs. China on April 5 raised rates for the fourth time since mid-October. Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand also increased borrowing costs this year to curb inflation, and Singapore said yesterday it would allow further currency gains.
China’s economy grew a more-than-estimated 9.7 percent in the first quarter and inflation accelerated in March to the fastest pace since 2008, with consumer prices rising 5.4 percent from a year earlier, a report showed today.
Reserve Bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on March 17 increased the repurchase rate by a quarter point to 6.75 percent after raising the inflation forecast for the second time since late January, when he estimated it at 7 percent by March end. The central bank’s next monetary policy announcement is scheduled for May 3.
Food Inflation
“In the absence of a strong supply response, increasing demand will inevitably lead to higher prices,” Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said April 5. He said a “monetary response is warranted” should demand exceed supply and stoke inflation.
Manufactured-products inflation was 6.21 percent in March, compared with 4.94 percent in February, today’s report showed. Fuel and power prices rose 12.92 percent, compared with 11.49 percent the previous month. India relies on imports to meet three-quarters of its annual energy needs.
Food prices rose 8.28 percent in the week to April 2, compared with 9.18 percent in the previous week, the commerce ministry said in a separate report today.
India’s economy may expand as much as 9.25 percent in the year ending March 31, 2012, the finance ministry said in February.
Production Growth
Still, India’s industrial production growth unexpectedly slowed to 3.6 percent in February, a report showed this week.
“Even as industrial production continues to be volatile, other indicators, such as the latest purchasing managers’ index, direct and indirect tax collections, merchandise exports and bank credit, suggest that the growth momentum persists,” the central bank said in the March 17 statement.
India’s industrial output has fluctuated since May, when it registered a 12.2 percent expansion. The growth eased to 7.2 percent in June, rebounded to 15.1 percent in July, slid to 4.9 percent in September and then recovered in October, according to government data.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), the nation’s biggest carmaker, plans to boost capacity by 21 percent in the current financial year as part of investment plans totaling as much as 40 billion rupees ($900 million), Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth said in an interview on April 6. The company’s sales climbed to a record in March.
Recent data show lenders are giving loans at a faster pace than the central bank’s target. Commercial loans rose 21.4 percent from the previous year as of March 25, more than the 20 percent rate prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India.
Rising Salaries
Manufacturing grew for a 24th straight month, with the purchasing managers’ index holding unchanged at 57.9 in March from February, when it accelerated at the fastest pace in three months, HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics said April 1.
Salaries in India this year may rise the most in the Asia- Pacific region, fueling consumer demand, a survey by Aon Hewitt LLC showed March 8. Spending under the government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 has surged almost fourfold to 399 billion rupees.
Demand may find more support from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, which plans to spur spending and exempt incomes below 180,000 rupees from tax, higher than the previous threshold of 160,000 rupees.
The benchmark wholesale-price index rose 8.98 percent from a year earlier after an 8.31 percent gain in February, the commerce ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today. That exceeded all 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey, where the median forecast was for an 8.36 percent increase.
Expansion in India’s $1.3 trillion economy has boosted consumer demand and spurred manufacturing, car sales and credit growth, stoking price risks and prompting the central bank to raise rates eight times since early 2010. Inflation in the first quarter has exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast that price increases would be 8 percent by the end of March this year.
“Inflation is going to remain uncomfortably high this year,” said Leif Eskesen, Singapore-based chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. “The RBI needs to raise rates more aggressively and we are looking at three more rate increases this year.”
Stocks dropped the most in seven weeks, with the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index falling 1.6 percent. The yield on the 8.08 percent bond due in August 2022 rose 4 basis points to 8.24 percent, the highest level since Feb. 8, as of the 5 p.m. close in Mumbai. The rupee strengthened 0.4 percent to 44.33 a dollar, paring the week’s loss to 0.6 percent.
Rate Increase
Rising oil and commodity costs and sustained economic growth are escalating pressure on Asian central banks to boost borrowing costs. China on April 5 raised rates for the fourth time since mid-October. Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand also increased borrowing costs this year to curb inflation, and Singapore said yesterday it would allow further currency gains.
China’s economy grew a more-than-estimated 9.7 percent in the first quarter and inflation accelerated in March to the fastest pace since 2008, with consumer prices rising 5.4 percent from a year earlier, a report showed today.
Reserve Bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on March 17 increased the repurchase rate by a quarter point to 6.75 percent after raising the inflation forecast for the second time since late January, when he estimated it at 7 percent by March end. The central bank’s next monetary policy announcement is scheduled for May 3.
Food Inflation
“In the absence of a strong supply response, increasing demand will inevitably lead to higher prices,” Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said April 5. He said a “monetary response is warranted” should demand exceed supply and stoke inflation.
Manufactured-products inflation was 6.21 percent in March, compared with 4.94 percent in February, today’s report showed. Fuel and power prices rose 12.92 percent, compared with 11.49 percent the previous month. India relies on imports to meet three-quarters of its annual energy needs.
Food prices rose 8.28 percent in the week to April 2, compared with 9.18 percent in the previous week, the commerce ministry said in a separate report today.
India’s economy may expand as much as 9.25 percent in the year ending March 31, 2012, the finance ministry said in February.
Production Growth
Still, India’s industrial production growth unexpectedly slowed to 3.6 percent in February, a report showed this week.
“Even as industrial production continues to be volatile, other indicators, such as the latest purchasing managers’ index, direct and indirect tax collections, merchandise exports and bank credit, suggest that the growth momentum persists,” the central bank said in the March 17 statement.
India’s industrial output has fluctuated since May, when it registered a 12.2 percent expansion. The growth eased to 7.2 percent in June, rebounded to 15.1 percent in July, slid to 4.9 percent in September and then recovered in October, according to government data.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), the nation’s biggest carmaker, plans to boost capacity by 21 percent in the current financial year as part of investment plans totaling as much as 40 billion rupees ($900 million), Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth said in an interview on April 6. The company’s sales climbed to a record in March.
Recent data show lenders are giving loans at a faster pace than the central bank’s target. Commercial loans rose 21.4 percent from the previous year as of March 25, more than the 20 percent rate prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India.
Rising Salaries
Manufacturing grew for a 24th straight month, with the purchasing managers’ index holding unchanged at 57.9 in March from February, when it accelerated at the fastest pace in three months, HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics said April 1.
Salaries in India this year may rise the most in the Asia- Pacific region, fueling consumer demand, a survey by Aon Hewitt LLC showed March 8. Spending under the government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 has surged almost fourfold to 399 billion rupees.
Demand may find more support from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, which plans to spur spending and exempt incomes below 180,000 rupees from tax, higher than the previous threshold of 160,000 rupees.
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