Business Digest

A union committee representing Alaska Airlines' 1,465 pilots is forwarding a tentative five-year contract deal to its general membership with a neutral recommendation.

Jenn Farrell, spokeswoman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said the committee reached its decision late Tuesday night. Online voting by union members will begin at the end of this month and will continue through July.

In late May, the Seattle-based carrier and the union announced a tentative contract agreement, which in part calls for a 20 percent cut in wages for captains and first officers. The average wage cut recommended by a federal arbitrator, who was called in after both sides failed to reach a contract agreement, was 26 percent.

Microsoft sues four computer resellers

Microsoft Corp. filed four lawsuits in Virginia and California against computer resellers for distributing counterfeit and unlicensed software programs. The Redmond company said it filed the suits as the result of customer complaints and a test purchase program.

Microsoft said it sued CEO Microsystems Inc. of Irvine, Calif.; Wiston Group Inc. of Walnut, Calif.; #9 Software Inc. of Hampton, Va.; and East Outlet LLC and Super Supplier LLC, both based in Newport News, Va., and named in the same suit.

Enron fallout: More settlements are likely

HOUSTON -- News that bankers JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup will pony up a collective $4.2 billion to make a conglomeration of Enron Corp. shareholder lawsuits go away lights a settlement fire under other banks and brokerages still named as defendants, legal experts said yesterday.

Shareholders won't see checks in the mail anytime soon, because who gets how much still must be calculated and then approved by a judge. Enron spiraled into bankruptcy in December 2001 upon revelations of hidden debt, inflated profits and widespread accounting tricks. Thousands of workers lost their jobs, and its once high-flying stock became worthless.

JPMorgan Chase announced Monday it would pay $2.2 billion to settle allegations that the bank colluded with Enron to skirt accounting rules. Last week, Citigroup announced it would pay $2 billion to settle similar allegations of participating in dubious deals.

Bristol-Myers Squibb pays to defer charge

NEWARK, N.J. -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed to pay $300 million in a deal to defer federal prosecution of a conspiracy charge stemming from an accounting scandal, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said yesterday. Two of its former executives also were indicted in the same scandal.

NEW TOP OFFICER

Alaska Air Group, the Seattle-based airline operator, yesterday promoted Marne McCluskey to vice president of employee resources for its subsidiary Horizon Air.

SHIPPING NEWS

Vessels due at the Port of Seattle today, according to the Marine Exchange of Puget Sound, include APL England, from Hong Kong, at Terminal 5-North, and CSL Cabo, from San Francisco, at the BP fuel dock. Due tomorrow are Mercury, from Prince Rupert, B.C., at Pier 66-2; Rosina Topic, from Korea, at anchor, and Yokohama Senator, from Busan, South Korea, at 37.

This report includes information from P-I staff, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News.

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