Fluke Networks Inc. of Everett has received all necessary corporate and government approvals for its acquisition of Microtest Inc., the Arizona company it offered some $74 million for earlier this year, officials said. Microtest, founded in 1984, sells computer and communications network testing tools and network storage and appliance servers. Chris Odell, president of Fluke Networks, promised continued investment in Microtest to develop need products.
Chief executives at 74 U.S. companies, including the Boeing Co., are urging the Bush administration to negotiate a deal with the European Union in a dispute over a corporate tax break they say could provoke a trade war. In a letter to President Bush and Cabinet officials, the executives said the United States must reach a “mutually acceptable solution” with the 15-nation EU, which won a ruling last month from the World Trade Organization that the tax break amounts to an illegal trade subsidy.
A committee of Boeing technical and professional workers in St. Louis has asked the Society of Professional Engineer Employees in Aerospace to help them organize a union. The effort got under way with a rally Thursday. SPEEA has opened an office in St. Louis to help the drive to collect enough signatures to hold a National Labor Relations Board election. About 5,000 workers potentially are eligible to become part of a new bargaining unit at the former McDonnell Douglas plant. They are designers, engineers, manufacturing planners and supply analysts working on Boeing’s F-15, F/A-18 and Joint Strike Fighter programs.
The world’s two largest Internet service providers, AOL Time Warner Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, came out on the bottom of a customer satisfaction survey. The Consumer Reports survey released Thursday of 1,640 dial-up modem users gave high marks to AT&T WorldNet, BellSouth Corp. and EarthLink Inc. for overall satisfaction. MSN got the lowest overall rating, due to dissatisfaction with e-mail, support and reliability of its dial-up connections. Respondents also identified AOL as unreliable in terms of quick and sustained dial-up access.
Kolcraft Enterprises Inc. of Chicago is recalling about 115,000 LiteSport strollers that can suddenly collapse and hurt babies. The model number, 36122, is located on the back leg frame of the stroller, which was sold at department and children’s stores between December 1997 and December 2000 for about $30. Consumers can call Kolcraft to receive a free repair kit at 800-922-2130.
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