The union representing Delta Air Lines Inc.’s pilots wants raises of almost 40 percent compounded over three years, attempting to reverse some of the pay and benefit cuts adopted in the early 2000s.
The union cites the carrier’s surging profits in saying it had requested a 22 percent raise for 2016, followed by 7 percent raises in the following two years, according to a memo from the Air Line Pilots Association. The union and Delta declined to comment on the memo. A Delta spokesman, Morgan Durrant, said the company looks forward to negotiating with the union to reach an agreement that’s beneficial to both parties.
The memo suggests that the union is taking a more aggressive stance in negotiations with the Atlanta-based airline, which typically has had some of the the strongest labor relations in the industry. Almost two-thirds of the pilots over the summer voted against a deal that would have given them almost a 22 percent increase over three years.
Microsoft will notify users of hacks
SEATTLE >> Microsoft says it will begin notifying users of its online services if they have been targets of suspected state-sponsored online attacks, joining a growing list of Internet companies stepping up their security policies with similar measures.
The company, which announced the change Wednesday in a blog post, joins Google, Facebook and others in disclosing when users of email and other services probably have been targeted by hackers working on behalf of governments. Such attacks have increased in intensity in recent years and often involve more sophisticated, sustained forms of trickery to gain control of online accounts than those employed by ordinary digital criminals.
Reuters reported Wednesday that Microsoft managers determined in 2012 that hackers affiliated with the Chinese government had hacked into more than a thousand Hotmail accounts, some of which belonged to leaders of China’s Tibetan and Uighur minorities.
Ride-hailing firm Sidecar stops services
NEW YORK >> Delivery and ride-hailing pioneer Sidecar, which struggled to compete with bigger rivals Uber and Lyft, stopped offering services Thursday.
“Today is a turning point for Sidecar as we prepare to end our ride and delivery service so we can work on strategic alternatives and lay the groundwork for the next big thing,” co-founders Sunil Paul and Jahan Khanna wrote in an online post. The 3-year-old San Francisco company’s investors included Google Ventures and Richard Branson.
While Uber Technologies says it’s operating in 68 countries and Lyft gives rides in 190 cities, Sidecar did business in just eight markets across the U.S. Paul and Khanna posted that Sidecar faced a “capital disadvantage.”
Drugmaker KaloBios files for bankruptcy
NEW YORK >> KaloBios, the troubled drugmaker taken over by Martin Shkreli in November, is seeking bankruptcy protection less than two weeks after his arrest for securities fraud. It is the second pharmaceutical company with ties to the former hedge fund manager now in turmoil following his indictment on charges unrelated to his involvement with them, though the drugmakers are not lacking for problems of their own. The other, Turing Pharmaceuticals Inc., is cutting jobs and seeking a new CEO after Shkreli resigned the position because of his arrest.
Under Shkreli, Turing acquired the rights to a treatment for a rare parasitic infection that mainly strikes pregnant women and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill. That shoved the New York company right into the cross hairs of lawmakers under pressure to do something about soaring drug prices.
ON THE MOVE
Kaiser Permanente has announced the following new additions of physicians to facilities on Oahu and Maui:
>> Dr. Jennifer Lum has joined the obstetrics and gynecology department at Kaiser Permanente Waipio Medical Office. She completed her residency at the University of Hawaii,John A. Burns School of Medicine, where she also serves as an assistant professor.
>> Dr. Brannon Raney specializes in infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. He was previously an infectious disease medical director at AMGSpecialty Hospital in Tulsa, Okla.
>> Dr. Jodie Toward has joined the pediatrics department at Kaiser Permanente Maui Lani Medical Office in Wailuku. She completed her pediatric residency at MedicalUniversity of South Carolina’s Children’s Hospital in Charleston, S.C.
>> Dr. Steve Wang specializes in orthopedic surgery at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. He completed his hand surgery fellowship at the Mount Sinai Hospital inNew York.
