Paccar Inc. has notified state officials that it will lay off 430 workers in January at its Renton plant, where it makes Kenworth trucks. State Employment Security Department Spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison says the company filed a notice with the state Friday. Paccar says it will stop making highway trucks at the plant, and will produce only two off- highway trucks per day. Last year, the company was building 18 trucks a day in Renton. Paccar declined to say how many employees would be let go or how much it would slow production. Company spokesman Jeff Parietti says the company plans to ramp up production again when the market improves.
Amtrak chief resigns abruptly
Amtrak Chief Executive Alex Kummant resigned Friday after two years marked by significant growth in ridership and revenue, the national passenger railroad said. Kummant’s resignation is effective immediately, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said, though he would not say why the 48-year-old executive is leaving.
Fidelity to cut 1,700 positions
Fidelity Investments will eliminate 1,700 jobs early next year in a second round of cuts at the nation’s largest mutual fund company, which has seen its money management fees decline along with the markets. Combined with 1,300 cuts that Fidelity announced last week, the second round disclosed Friday will eliminate about 7 percent of the company’s work force of about 44,400, said Anne Crowley, a spokeswoman for Boston-based Fidelity.
Buffett company targets oil stock
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s company picked up roughly 66 million shares of ConocoPhillips stock between March and September to gain control of nearly 6 percent of the oil company’s stock. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday afternoon that provide a snapshot of its holdings at the end of the third quarter. The filing shows that Berkshire held nearly 84 million shares of ConocoPhillips on Sept. 30.
Lawyer tackles song sharing
The music industry’s courtroom campaign against people who share songs online is coming under counterattack. A Harvard Law School professor has launched a constitutional assault against a federal copyright law at the heart of the industry’s aggressive strategy, which has wrung payments from thousands of song-swappers since 2003. The professor, Charles Nesson, has come to the defense of a Boston University graduate student targeted in one of the music industry’s lawsuits. He plans to defend others in his attack on the industry.
From Herald news services
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