Kodak plans job cuts

Eastman Kodak chief executive Daniel Carp announced Wednesday that the company is cutting another 1,800 to 2,200 jobs, or about 3 percent of its global work force, as it expects continued weakness in the U.S. economy.

The cuts were announced as the company posted a profit of $113 million, or 39 cents a share, in the fourth quarter in contrast to a loss of $206 million, or 71 cents a share, a year earlier.

Labor

West Coast dockworkers agree to new contract

West Coast dockworkers overwhelmingly approved a new six-year contract Wednesday, formally ending a labor dispute that had closed the nation’s Pacific ports for 10 days last fall until the government intervened.

Nearly 90 percent of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members who voted approved the multibillion-dollar deal, which should bring labor peace to 29 major West Coast ports and bring modernization to the docks.

The deal boasts handsome benefits, including no-cost health insurance and a 60 percent increase in pensions. By 2008, a union member will receive an annual pension of $1,800 multiplied by the number of years worked. A 30-year veteran, for example, would get $54,000 per year in retirement benefits.

Salaries would increase 12 percent, giving the average longshoreman around $90,000 in annual pay.

Wall Street

Area earnings announced

Kansas City Mo.-based AMC Entertainment Inc. on Wednesday said its loss for the third quarter had narrowed to $4.9 million. The loss of 14 cents per share during the third quarter that ended Dec. 26 beat the 16 cents per share expected by analysts who were surveyed by Thomson First Call. During the same period last year, AMC reported a loss of $16.8 million, or 72 cents per share.

Topeka-based Capitol Federal Financial announced earnings of 38 cents per share for its most recent quarter compared to earnings of 28 cents per share for the same period a year ago.

Union Pacific Corp. on Wednesday announced it had net income of $378 million, or $1.41 a share for its fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31. That included 31 cents per share in one-time gains for tax adjustments and sale of land and track. That compares with net income of $275 million, or $1.06 a share, in the same period last fiscal year.

Economic Development

Manhattan lands mailbox manufacturer

Officials with the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing announced that Chicago-based Auth-Florence Mfg. has chosen Manhattan over several other Kansas sites for a new manufacturing facility.

The company is one of the largest manufacturers of residential and commercial mailboxes in the country. The Manhattan plant is expected to employ 250 people within the next three years.