BEN & JERRY’S SOUR LEMON
South Burlington, Vt. — Despite promises to the contrary, the socially conscious ideals of ice cream makers Ben & Jerry’s appear to be in jeopardy after being bought out by Unilever last year. Co-founder Ben Cohen threatened to quit the company after the new corporate parent refused to name his recommendation for a co-CEO who is committed to the company’s good corporate citizenship.
FAILED EXEC PAYS BIG
Tokyo — The collapse of Japanese retailer Sogo has cost a heavy price — $83 million to be exact — for Hiroo Mizushima who served as CEO. While the judge ruled 16 executives were responsible for the failure, it was the CEO who was ultimately responsible.
LOTS OF OPTIONS
New York — All 85,000 employees of the merging America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. will be given stock options as part of the merger deal. While AOL has historically offered stock to all employees, cash compensation was the rule at Time where only middle managers and higher received stock.
FRENCH WOMEN LIBERATED
Paris — A 19th century French law meant to protect family values by banning women from working in places such as factories and mines has been repealed. Nurses and women in other professions deemed feminine were exempt from the ban, which the European Court found discriminatory. French law still seeks to make night work an exception in general and protecting employees from termination if they refuse to work at night.
EUROPEAN SKILLS GAP
New York — A technology skills shortage has cost the European economy as much as $161 billion in lost opportunity since 1998 and is likely to get much worse, a report from an United Nation’s agency states. The demand for employees in information and communication technology industries is likely to grow rapidly, but as many as 1.6 million IT jobs could go unfilled by 2002, tripling the 1998 shortfall of 500,000.
South Burlington, Vt. — Despite promises to the contrary, the socially conscious ideals of ice cream makers Ben & Jerry’s appear to be in jeopardy after being bought out by Unilever last year. Co-founder Ben Cohen threatened to quit the company after the new corporate parent refused to name his recommendation for a co-CEO who is committed to the company’s good corporate citizenship.
FAILED EXEC PAYS BIG
Tokyo — The collapse of Japanese retailer Sogo has cost a heavy price — $83 million to be exact — for Hiroo Mizushima who served as CEO. While the judge ruled 16 executives were responsible for the failure, it was the CEO who was ultimately responsible.
LOTS OF OPTIONS
New York — All 85,000 employees of the merging America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. will be given stock options as part of the merger deal. While AOL has historically offered stock to all employees, cash compensation was the rule at Time where only middle managers and higher received stock.
FRENCH WOMEN LIBERATED
Paris — A 19th century French law meant to protect family values by banning women from working in places such as factories and mines has been repealed. Nurses and women in other professions deemed feminine were exempt from the ban, which the European Court found discriminatory. French law still seeks to make night work an exception in general and protecting employees from termination if they refuse to work at night.
EUROPEAN SKILLS GAP
New York — A technology skills shortage has cost the European economy as much as $161 billion in lost opportunity since 1998 and is likely to get much worse, a report from an United Nation’s agency states. The demand for employees in information and communication technology industries is likely to grow rapidly, but as many as 1.6 million IT jobs could go unfilled by 2002, tripling the 1998 shortfall of 500,000.
