Dow Jones Newswires reported that after the meeting some of the women said they believe Merrill paid them less than their male counterparts and that other firms will continue to discriminate until Merrill changes its practices.
The women said they plan to continue to attend Merrill's annual meeting until the issue is resolved, according to Dow Jones.
Today's Layoff News
- Comverse Technology Inc. on Monday said it will can 6 percent of its staff due to the economic slowdown. The Israeli company, which has U.S. operations based in Woodbury, N.Y., said it had previously raised its number of employees because of its rapid growth.
- Delta Air Lines Inc.'s Comair Inc. unit will lay off half of its non-striking work force, or 2,000 employees, because of the month-long pilots' strike.
- Knight Ridder Inc. said it will restructure its operations and reduce its work force as a result of falling advertising revenue and higher newsprint costs. It said that the number of cuts will vary according to local market conditions, but there will be reductions in most newspapers.
From the CFO.com "Brief" Case
- International Business Machines Corp. said on Friday it won a $1.3 billion contract over 15 years to modernize the U.S. Customs Service's technology. Under the agreement, IBM said its global services unit will also help it develop and put in place a new system for processing imports.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it agreed to buy Aurora Biosciences Corp. for about $592 million in stock.
- AGE Federal Credit Union of Albany, Ga. has obtained permission from regulators to become a federally-insured savings and loan. The Office of Thrift Supervision said the approval will turn the credit union, which has $268 million in assets and 42,000 members, into HeritageBank of the South.
- Harvey L. Pitt, a general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970s, is President Bush's top candidate to become the agency's new chairman, according to wire service reports.
- Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the SEC, is expected to join the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based private equity firm, as a senior adviser, according to FT.com.
- H.J. Heinz Co. and Beech-Nut agreed to terminate their proposed $185 million merger as a result of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's ruling that the deal not be allowed to proceed on antitrust grounds.
- International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. on Friday said it plans to privately sell $500 million of five-year notes early next month.
- Red Herring Communications Inc., which owns Red Herring magazine as well as a Web site, conference business and research arm, is trying to sell itself amid a shakeout among technology-oriented magazines, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has contacted AOL Time Warner and Ziff Davis Media Inc. in the past few weeks, according to the paper.
- Paul J. Wilhelm, who started at U.S. Steel as a foreman and rose through the ranks to become vice chairman of USX Corp. and president of U.S. Steel Group, died Friday at age 59 after complications from cancer.
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