DEARBORN, Michigan — Wonder no more about who will take the helm of marketing at the Ford Motor Company. James D. Farley, Lexus group vice president and general manager, is coming to Ford after two decades in Toyota Motor Sales.
The 45-year-old will be Ford's first head of global marketing and communications and will report directly to CEO Alan Mulally. He is to start in November.
Farley, who was present at the creation of the hot Scion youth-oriented brand of Toyota, moved throughout Toyota since 1990, when he joined the company's strategic planning department. He rose to become VP of marketing for Toyota immediately before his promotion to group VP of marketing and general manager of Lexus.
In a statement issued today, Mulally called Farley "one of the most successful and talented leaders in the industry" and pronounced himself "thrilled" at the acquisition of the new marketing executive. For his part, Farley said his first car was a 1966 Mustang that he bought as a young teen, restored and drove from California to Michigan. "I am excited to make that trip once again," Farley said.
What this means to you: Quite a coup for Ford. Now the question is: We know Farley loves Mustangs, but is he crazy about Mercury?
Monday, October 29, 2007
Top-Echelon Toyota Executive Jim Farley Jumps to Ford
McNally Finds Farce at `The Ritz'
NEW YORK — When Terrence McNally's "The Ritz" debuted more than 30 years ago, bathhouses were the center of many gay men's universes _ a place where one could find sex, work out, get a massage, see a show or even participate in "amateur night."
McNally captured that 1970s underground gay sex scene so remarkably well, it feels fresh and lively three decades later. This probably has as much to do with the Roundabout Theatre Company's ambitious restaging of "The Ritz" on Broadway, though, as it does with McNally's play.
The Roundabout has assembled a delightful cast, including Rosie Perez, Kevin Chamberlin and former gay porn star Ryan Idol who looks far too comfortable dressed only in a sheer white towel. Pluses also include the work of Tony Award-winning set designer Scott Pask, who has created what could be the Pantheon of all bathhouses _ a three-level palace of cherry-red doors, hidden passages and cutaway rooms.
Under the direction of Joe Mantello, the show starts off as a boisterous romp, with Gaetano Proclo (Chamberlin) checking into the Ritz bathhouse to hide from his brother-in-law, Carmine, who is out to kill him. Proclo stumbles around in a bad wig and sunglasses, bumping into the seminude denizens of the bathhouse as they saunter about.
Then he meets Googie Gomez (Perez), the Ritz's in-house talent, who thinks Proclo is a Broadway producer who could finally discover her prodigious talents. Proclo, meanwhile, thinks Googie is a transvestite who wears bad wigs of her own.
Set against the backdrop of the farcical comedy are McNally's observations about gay life, seen through the eyes _ in this case _ of a heterosexual man trapped in a den of sexual eroticism. McNally mostly pokes fun at his characters, who include an effeminate drama queen wrapped in a lavender kimono and a self-described "chubby chaser" who is only attracted to fat men.
Such stereotypes are deeply ingrained in gay culture, which could cause McNally's characters to come off as tiresome or worse, offensive. But the actors play with restrained campiness, and it's almost impossible not to laugh at Brooks Ashmanskas' overly affected Chris (the drama queen) or Patrick Kerr's disturbingly creepy Claude (the chubby chaser).
To avoid making his audiences too uncomfortable, McNally only alludes to gay sex (all the real action takes place behind those closed, cherry-red doors) and the most homophobic comment uttered by one of the straight characters is when Proclo indicates that two of the bathhouse employees are abnormal because they are in a relationship; the play is so politically correct, he immediately apologizes.
But McNally isn't interested in being political with "The Ritz." The play is meant to be a farce and he gets top-notch performances from his actors, chief among them Perez. She plays the washed-up lounge singer so perfectly, one almost wishes the play revolved around her rather than a silly Italian family squabble.
Dressed like a Latina "Annie" in a turquoise, sequined pants suit and blond, curly wig, Googie puts on one of the worst performances the Ritz nightclub has probably ever seen, complete with bad choreography, off-key singing and only one high heel (the other she kicks through the curtain backstage). Perez bares her teeth in frustration through it all, showing off her tremendous comic abilities.
Mantello keeps the action under control throughout the more subdued first half, but things get manic in the second act when Carmine shows up and the thin plot line returns. Suddenly, Carmine and Proclo are diving under beds, a detective with a gratingly high-pitched voice mixes up their identities and Proclo's wife's mink gets stolen, sparking an obligatory chase scene.
Dialogue gets lost in the mayhem and the hilarity seems a little forced. Relief comes in a final confrontation between Carmine and Proclo on the Ritz's nightclub stage, but by then, the farce has run a little flat and all those 1970s haircuts are starting to look a bit outdated.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Koreans Flocking to Internet to Buy Sex - FOX News
SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans are increasingly turning to the Internet and mobile phones to buy sex following a tougher anti-prostitution law in 2004 targeting brothels.
Major red-light districts throughout South Korea dropped 42 percent since 2004 to 992 this year, according to National Police Agency records released by a legislative office.
But the number of alternative locations where sex can be bought — karaoke bars, barber shops and massage parlors — increased 26 percent to 139,273 during that period, the records showed.
In a news release, the office of Ahn Myoung-ock, a member of the National Assembly's health and welfare committee, said the Internet and mobile phones are emerging as key conduits for prostitution.
The office cited data by the state-run Korea Internet Safety Commission showing it received reports that 11,724 Web sites and mobile phone content operators were arranging prostitution as of this past June, more than quadruple the 2,680 in 2005.
The commission didn't provide figures for prior years.
The office said sex Web sites are posting prices and services along with photographs.
"In particular, female university students are looking for easy, convenient part-time jobs through these sites, but the oversight over these sites has been insufficient," the office said in a statement.
Prostitution is illegal in South Korea, and the 2004 law imposed tougher punishment on human traffickers, pimps and others involved in prostitution.
NYC Hotel Offers Sleep Concierge - FOX News
NEW YORK — A New York City hotel is so determined to make sure its customers get a good night's rest that it's got its own sleep concierge.
"I've learned a lot about sleep since I started this job," said Anya Orlanska, who four months ago took the job at The Benjamin, a midtown Manhattan hotel. "There are so many things that can be done."
The hotel, which created the position several years ago, is serious about its mission.
It offers customers a mattress specifically created for the hotel and a menu of over a dozen different pillows including one with a speaker built into it and a cord that plugs into an iPod.
Guests also have the option of a before-bedtime massage and snacks believed to make you sleepy _ for an extra charge.
"We've done a lot of research regarding sleeping, how to make people comfortable," Orlanska said Monday.
She said she's taken the hotel's different types of pillows _ some made with buckwheat, others with down _ home with her to try them out for a couple of days.
"You have to experience it yourself to actually sell the product," she said.
The hotel guarantees customers will sleep as well at the hotel as they do at home, or they get a free night's stay.
Room rates vary depending on the day of the week and the time of year, anywhere from a couple to at least several hundred dollars a night. In the time Orlanska has been there, no one's taken them up on it.
The reaction tends to be more like the one she got from a woman whose husband was a hardcore snorer. The pillow they used was so effective at quieting him down, Orlanska said, that the woman wanted to buy it and take it home with her.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
UAW grip on pay scales is loosened
Bill Parker is right: The proposed contract between Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers does break the "pattern" established over the past 70-some years of bargaining, but mostly because it was already crumbling.
As chairman of the UAW-Chrysler national bargaining committee, he probably read in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that Honda Motor Co. is hiring for its new plant in Indiana and planning to pay between $15 and $18 an hour for work on the assembly line, compared with $24 an hour or so in a typical UAW plant.
He knows that Toyota Motor Co. plants down south are diverging from the company's practice of matching the basic UAW wage scale in places like Kentucky and instead are paying a premium on the local prevailing manufacturing wage, substantially below UAW scale.
And it's no secret to anyone paying attention to the details that the pattern has been under enormous stress as Detroit's automakers lost market share, their respective troubles diverged, the UAW-Big Three ranks dwindled and foreign rivals claiming half of U.S. sales built plants in mostly nonunion states.
The UAW's stranglehold on the wage-and-benefit scales in U.S. auto assembly plants is gone, a fact implicitly recognized by the deal that union President Ron Gettelfinger and his bargainers reached with General Motors Corp. The fundamental question facing UAW-Chrysler members as they consider their proposed contract, already rejected by several influential locals, is what other options they may have besides ratifying the unpopular deal.
Parker, in a thoughtfully worded two-page memo posted on the Internet, urges a return to the bargaining table.
"The pattern set at General Motors undermines years of gains by our union and breaks faith with our own traditions," he said, decrying the institution of a lower, second-tier wage for new hires, few new production commitments, the division of union jobs into "core" and "non-core" and limitations on the jobs bank. "The 2007 GM pattern agreement effectively ends many of the principles established 70 years ago in the UAW's birth."
He's right, however much management and the UAW brass may not want to hear it. But that's where decades of denying reality and hoping for the best, on both sides, can lead -- to uncompromising compromises.
There are other options:
There's a restart of the union's barely six-hour strike against Chrysler, a walkout pegged more to bickering between top union officials and folks like Parker over the tentative agreement than any disagreement with Chrysler or its private-equity owners at Cerberus Capital Management LP. OK, then what?
'No deal' wouldn't be good
There's the increasing possibility that UAW-Chrysler members may be the first unit in the union's history with Detroit's automakers to reject a national tentative agreement, undermining Gettelfinger and seriously complicating pending talks with a sick Ford Motor Co.
If failing to ratify the UAW-Chrysler deal isn't such a potentially negative development, do you think national union leaders -- including Gettelfinger and General Holiefield, head of the UAW-Chrysler Department -- would be lobbying locals to approve the deal?
Of course not. Gettelfinger never actually put before his Chrysler members the 2005 health care concession package the union reached with GM and Ford because UAW leaders feared the rank-and-file would see the deep pockets of the German parent company and vote no.
The deal that UAW-Chrysler members are considering essentially acknowledges what the rest of the auto industry has known for some time: The pattern already is broken, a casualty of competition and unique problems at each of the Big Three.
Chrysler's UAW members do have choices -- between the decline of the present, the uncertainty of confrontation with a new kind of owner or the potential revival of the future. The only option off the table is the better times of days gone by.
UAW grip on pay scales is loosened
Bill Parker is right: The proposed contract between Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers does break the "pattern" established over the past 70-some years of bargaining, but mostly because it was already crumbling.
As chairman of the UAW-Chrysler national bargaining committee, he probably read in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that Honda Motor Co. is hiring for its new plant in Indiana and planning to pay between $15 and $18 an hour for work on the assembly line, compared with $24 an hour or so in a typical UAW plant.
He knows that Toyota Motor Co. plants down south are diverging from the company's practice of matching the basic UAW wage scale in places like Kentucky and instead are paying a premium on the local prevailing manufacturing wage, substantially below UAW scale.
And it's no secret to anyone paying attention to the details that the pattern has been under enormous stress as Detroit's automakers lost market share, their respective troubles diverged, the UAW-Big Three ranks dwindled and foreign rivals claiming half of U.S. sales built plants in mostly nonunion states.
The UAW's stranglehold on the wage-and-benefit scales in U.S. auto assembly plants is gone, a fact implicitly recognized by the deal that union President Ron Gettelfinger and his bargainers reached with General Motors Corp. The fundamental question facing UAW-Chrysler members as they consider their proposed contract, already rejected by several influential locals, is what other options they may have besides ratifying the unpopular deal.
Parker, in a thoughtfully worded two-page memo posted on the Internet, urges a return to the bargaining table.
"The pattern set at General Motors undermines years of gains by our union and breaks faith with our own traditions," he said, decrying the institution of a lower, second-tier wage for new hires, few new production commitments, the division of union jobs into "core" and "non-core" and limitations on the jobs bank. "The 2007 GM pattern agreement effectively ends many of the principles established 70 years ago in the UAW's birth."
He's right, however much management and the UAW brass may not want to hear it. But that's where decades of denying reality and hoping for the best, on both sides, can lead -- to uncompromising compromises.
There are other options:
There's a restart of the union's barely six-hour strike against Chrysler, a walkout pegged more to bickering between top union officials and folks like Parker over the tentative agreement than any disagreement with Chrysler or its private-equity owners at Cerberus Capital Management LP. OK, then what?
'No deal' wouldn't be good
There's the increasing possibility that UAW-Chrysler members may be the first unit in the union's history with Detroit's automakers to reject a national tentative agreement, undermining Gettelfinger and seriously complicating pending talks with a sick Ford Motor Co.
If failing to ratify the UAW-Chrysler deal isn't such a potentially negative development, do you think national union leaders -- including Gettelfinger and General Holiefield, head of the UAW-Chrysler Department -- would be lobbying locals to approve the deal?
Of course not. Gettelfinger never actually put before his Chrysler members the 2005 health care concession package the union reached with GM and Ford because UAW leaders feared the rank-and-file would see the deep pockets of the German parent company and vote no.
The deal that UAW-Chrysler members are considering essentially acknowledges what the rest of the auto industry has known for some time: The pattern already is broken, a casualty of competition and unique problems at each of the Big Three.
Chrysler's UAW members do have choices -- between the decline of the present, the uncertainty of confrontation with a new kind of owner or the potential revival of the future. The only option off the table is the better times of days gone by.
Jefferson North workers reject Chrysler deal
DETROIT -- A majority of UAW workers at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly plant rejected the tentative contract agreement between the automaker and union today, dealing another serious blow to chances the deal will be ratified.
It was the fourth large assembly plant to reject the agreement since voting began last Thursday. Despite hard lobbying by United Auto Workers leadership to convince voters to accept the contract, UAW workers across the country have been saying "no."
So far, at least six locals -- representing more than 11,000 workers -- have rejected the deal reached between the union and automaker, and at least eight others -- representing nearly 6,500 workers -- have approved it.
At Jefferson North, which represents 2,200 workers, 56.7 percent of 1,100 production workers and 79.5 percent of 195 skilled trades workers rejected the deal. Voting was held this afternoon.
Also rejecting the agreement in the past few days were two assembly plants in St. Louis and another in Newark, Del. Voting at various UAW locals continues through Wednesday.
Some 45,000 Chrysler workers are eligible to vote on the contract, and a majority of those must approve it for ratification. If the deal isn't ratified, negotiators would have to return to the bargaining table. The last time a tentative contract was rejected was in 1982, also by Chrysler workers.
"That "no" vote really indicates that they're may be broader discontent in play," said Harley Shaiken, labor professor at University of California, Berkeley. He added that Jefferson North was a bellwether plant because the vote there could have gone either way.
"It could still be close," he said. "But the early plants are sending a strong 'no' message."
3 area UAW locals approve deal; vocal voters gather at Jefferson North
DETROIT -- Three Metro Detroit UAW locals representing nearly 3,000 workers this weekend approved the tentative contract between the union and Chrysler LLC, but ratification still is in jeopardy with the rejection of the deal by three large assembly plants.
Local 412, which represents about 2,000 workers at Chrysler headquarters and other area facilities, approved the deal with 76 percent of the vote; Local 212, representing about 750 workers at Conner Assembly, Mt. Elliott Tool and Die and Lynch Road Terminal, approved it with 85 percent; and Local 889 based in Warren, representing about 300 clerical workers at several Metro Detroit locations, approved it with 94 percent.
The three locals voted together in Warren Saturday.
Jefferson North Assembly plant workers, members of UAW Local 7 in Detroit, today gathered by the hundreds for their vote. Local 7 represents about 2,100 workers.
At times it was an emotional-charged scene outside the local office on Connor, with both vocal critics and supporters of the pact loudly declaring their positions.
When voting began at noon, the parking lot entrance of the local was flanked by a camera man and members from a socialist group urging members to reject the deal.
The front entrance of the local was a loud throng. Some rank-and-file members handed out pamphlets pointing out that three major Chrysler assembly plants have already rejected this deal; other Local 7 officers were urging support of the deal.
Some 45,000 Chrysler workers are eligible to vote on the contract, and a majority of those must approve it for ratification. If the deal isn't ratified, negotiators would have to return to the bargaining table.
The raucous Local 7 scene reflected the resistance this four-year tentative agreement has faced across the country ever since opponents of the tentative contract began to speak out against it last Monday, when the pact was unveiled in Detroit to local UAW leaders.
So far, at least five locals -- representing about 8,900 workers -- have rejected the deal reached between the union and automaker, and at least five others -- representing 3,500 workers -- have approved it.
Analysts say it is too soon to tell whether Chrysler workers will approve or reject the deal.
Of 31 Jefferson North workers interviewed today, 13 said they voted no, nine said they voted yes and nine wouldn't say how they voted.
At one point, Aaron Taylor, a top regional UAW representative, took to a loudspeaker system. "Don't listen to these outsiders!" Taylor said. "This is the best deal. Just listen and read the facts and you will know."
Three other Chrysler UAW locals vote today. Voting at various UAW locals continues through Wednesday.
"I'm very happy to say that it looks like this will voted be down here," said John Horton, a Jefferson North Assembly worker, who wore a t-shirt that said: "Union's benefits all workers."
Horton, like others who said they voted no, is highly critical of the tentative agreement because it will pay many "non-core" workers a starting wage of $14 an hour -- nearly half the wages of current workers. Non-core workers have been broadly identified as those not directly involved in the assembly of a vehicle.
Opponents also point to the tentative contract's lack of specific product commitments for Chrysler plants. The deal does promise up to $15 billion in new domestic investment, offers workers a $3,000 bonus, and creates a union-controlled trust fund to cover retiree health care costs.
Jefferson North employee Jim Frontera, a 42-year veteran of Chrysler, supports the contract. "I do think it's the best deal we can get. If you look at the situation of Chrysler, the union doesn't have much to bargain with like they did with GM," Frontera said, referring to the recent GM/UAW deal that had more job guarantees than Chrysler's pact.
"I don't know how this vote is going to go."
While much of attention is paid to voting at large assembly plants such as Jefferson North and plants in St. Louis and Newark which already rejected the contract, an Angie Crenshaw-Scott, an officer at Local 889 said she thinks strong support from smaller locals could sway the vote. So far her clerical union, the mostly salaried Local 412, and two parts distribution centers have supported the deal.
"I think the clerical and (unionized) salary staff will determine this contract because there are thousands of us nationwide," she said. "So far we've been very supportive of this deal."
3 area UAW locals approve deal; vocal voters gather at Jefferson North
DETROIT -- Three Metro Detroit UAW locals representing nearly 3,000 workers this weekend approved the tentative contract between the union and Chrysler LLC, but ratification still is in jeopardy with the rejection of the deal by three large assembly plants.
Local 412, which represents about 2,000 workers at Chrysler headquarters and other area facilities, approved the deal with 76 percent of the vote; Local 212, representing about 750 workers at Conner Assembly, Mt. Elliott Tool and Die and Lynch Road Terminal, approved it with 85 percent; and Local 889 based in Warren, representing about 300 clerical workers at several Metro Detroit locations, approved it with 94 percent.
The three locals voted together in Warren Saturday.
Jefferson North Assembly plant workers, members of UAW Local 7 in Detroit, today gathered by the hundreds for their vote. Local 7 represents about 2,100 workers.
At times it was an emotional-charged scene outside the local office on Connor, with both vocal critics and supporters of the pact loudly declaring their positions.
When voting began at noon, the parking lot entrance of the local was flanked by a camera man and members from a socialist group urging members to reject the deal.
The front entrance of the local was a loud throng. Some rank-and-file members handed out pamphlets pointing out that three major Chrysler assembly plants have already rejected this deal; other Local 7 officers were urging support of the deal.
Some 45,000 Chrysler workers are eligible to vote on the contract, and a majority of those must approve it for ratification. If the deal isn't ratified, negotiators would have to return to the bargaining table.
The raucous Local 7 scene reflected the resistance this four-year tentative agreement has faced across the country ever since opponents of the tentative contract began to speak out against it last Monday, when the pact was unveiled in Detroit to local UAW leaders.
So far, at least five locals -- representing about 8,900 workers -- have rejected the deal reached between the union and automaker, and at least five others -- representing 3,500 workers -- have approved it.
Analysts say it is too soon to tell whether Chrysler workers will approve or reject the deal.
Of 31 Jefferson North workers interviewed today, 13 said they voted no, nine said they voted yes and nine wouldn't say how they voted.
At one point, Aaron Taylor, a top regional UAW representative, took to a loudspeaker system. "Don't listen to these outsiders!" Taylor said. "This is the best deal. Just listen and read the facts and you will know."
Three other Chrysler UAW locals vote today. Voting at various UAW locals continues through Wednesday.
"I'm very happy to say that it looks like this will voted be down here," said John Horton, a Jefferson North Assembly worker, who wore a t-shirt that said: "Union's benefits all workers."
Horton, like others who said they voted no, is highly critical of the tentative agreement because it will pay many "non-core" workers a starting wage of $14 an hour -- nearly half the wages of current workers. Non-core workers have been broadly identified as those not directly involved in the assembly of a vehicle.
Opponents also point to the tentative contract's lack of specific product commitments for Chrysler plants. The deal does promise up to $15 billion in new domestic investment, offers workers a $3,000 bonus, and creates a union-controlled trust fund to cover retiree health care costs.
Jefferson North employee Jim Frontera, a 42-year veteran of Chrysler, supports the contract. "I do think it's the best deal we can get. If you look at the situation of Chrysler, the union doesn't have much to bargain with like they did with GM," Frontera said, referring to the recent GM/UAW deal that had more job guarantees than Chrysler's pact.
"I don't know how this vote is going to go."
While much of attention is paid to voting at large assembly plants such as Jefferson North and plants in St. Louis and Newark which already rejected the contract, an Angie Crenshaw-Scott, an officer at Local 889 said she thinks strong support from smaller locals could sway the vote. So far her clerical union, the mostly salaried Local 412, and two parts distribution centers have supported the deal.
"I think the clerical and (unionized) salary staff will determine this contract because there are thousands of us nationwide," she said. "So far we've been very supportive of this deal."
Tax help may spur Chrysler factory upgrade
Chrysler LLC is preparing to invest $366 million in its Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit that would create or retain an estimated 1,400 jobs.
The state of Michigan said Friday that tax credits have been approved to encourage the automaker to finalize plans to boost manufacturing flexibility for Chrysler's next generation of sport utility vehicles.
A Chrysler spokesman said the privately held automaker has yet to make a final decision on its plans, but noted that the tax credits are a key step toward moving forward.
"It's a precursor to building the business case for the investment," said spokesman David Elshoff. "This is part of the process of building the case."
Jefferson North was one of the few Chrysler assembly plants to receive a commitment for new products beyond 2011 in the new, four-year contract tentatively agreed to by the automaker and the United Auto Workers.
In the proposed agreement, the plant will continue building Jeep Grand Cherokees and Commander SUVs through their current product life-cycle, then transition to replacement products built on Chrysler's new "unibody" architecture.
A ratification vote on the contract by about 45,000 UAW-represented Chrysler workers was expected to be completed by early today. State officials said Friday that tax credits approved by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority would encourage Chrysler's investment and will "create or retain up to 1,419 jobs, including a minimum of 400 directly by the company."
The plant employs 2,400 workers, Elshoff said.
The state tax credit is valued at more than $4 million over seven years.
The city of Detroit is also considering a 12-year-long abatement worth $40.2 million for the project.
"A strong Chrysler is important for Michigan and Michigan workers, and we stand ready to help them thrive," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.