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Northwest fees questionedSTOCK

In the newsBy Joshua FreedAP business writer

MINNEAPOLIS — The Jus-tice Department is being askedto investigate new NorthwestAirlines fees that add $7.50 tothe cost of a round-trip ticketpurchased through systemsused by travel agents.

The Business Travel Coali-tion wrote to the Justice De-partment this week to assertthat Northwest added the feehoping that other carrierswould follow because it hasn’tbeen able to raise fares di-rectly.

The announcement “is aclear invitation to Northwest’s

competitors to follow its leadand agree to this across-the-board price increase,” the Busi-ness Travel Coalition wrote.“Northwest knows it cannotsustain such a fare increase onits own — and is thereforeplainly engaging in the pricenegotiation with other carriersthat DOJ has expressly forbid-den.”

The American Society ofTravel Agents filed a similarcomplaint last week.

The DOJ rule cited by theBusiness Travel Coalition, anadvocacy group representing

the interests of buyers of busi-ness travel services, expiredAug. 10. The coalition’s KevinMitchell said Northwest’s tim-ing of the fee, announced Aug.24, was “interesting.”

A Justice spokeswomandidn’t immediately return acall.

A Northwest spokesmandidn’t immediately respond towritten questions about the co-alition’s complaint.

Northwest has said the feeswill be charged to travel agents,but travel agents have saidthey’ll have no choice but to

pass them on to fliers.

Local travel leader pansmove

Scott Mast, an owner andexecutive vice president of Bur-khalter Travel and CruiseShoppe in Madison, said hebelieves Northwest will losecustomers over the fee issue.He said software companiesthat provide airline data fortravel agencies plan to retaliateby offering information aboutother airlines first.

Mast said the fees are “not

consumer oriented” and theymay be an attempt to get cus-tomers to buy more tickets onNorthwest’s Web site, wherethe fees don’t apply, instead ofgoing through travel agencies.

“They (Northwest officials)claim it’s an attempt to try toget their cost structures in linewith low-fare carriers,” Mastsaid. “But this is a pretty feebleattempt on their part to dothat. If they want to make adent in their cost structure,they’ve got to go way beyondthat.”

Please see NORTHWEST, Page C5

Justice Department called upon to investigate

Associated Banc-Corp.Daily close $31.32, up 2 cents

Company profileAssociated Banc-Corp. (Nasdaq:ASBC) has received keyregulatory approval for itspreviously announcedacquisition of First FederalCapital Corp. The FederalReserve, Securities and ExchangeCommission and WisconsinDepartment of FinancialInstitutions granted approvalswithin the past three weeks. InApril, Green Bay-basedAssociated Banc-Corp.announced it would acquire LaCrosse-based First Federal.Associated has assets of $15.5billion and 200 offices inWisconsin, Illinois andMinnesota. First Federal hasassets of about $3.7 billion. FirstFederal shareholders arescheduled to meet to approvethe acquisition Oct. 20.

SOURCE: State Journal research

Employeestroubled bypay ruling

HEALED BY THE LIGHT

DigestSome workers feel that new overtimerules will devalue the positions theyhold.By Adam GellerAP business writer

The complaints began even before Univer-sity of Missouri administrators e-mailed morethan 400 employees to confirm what mightseem a harmless change — soon, the memosaid, they’d be eligible for overtime pay.

It was not what Mary Porter wanted tohear. It had taken Porter 35 years to climb theuniversity’s ladder, from the copy machineoperator’s job she started just out of highschool, to a position with the salary, benefitsand responsibility certifying her as a profes-sional. Now the grandmother of three saw theuniversity, armed with new government ruleson overtime pay, pulling the ladder’s toprungs out from under her.

“It just feels like, in a sense, I’ve had some-thing taken away from me,” said Porter, anadministrative associate who half-jokes thatshe’s “trained” the last four chairmen of theuniversity’s anthropology department. “I hadthat (salaried) status because I worked myway up. . . . It made me feel personally like Ihad accomplished something.”

The Bush administration’s new rules onovertime pay have been at the center of a fu-rious, and still unresolved, debate overcharges they will cost millions of workers theright to overtime pay. But some employersare catching flak of a variety few expected —not from workers angry about losing overtimepay, but from some irritated about a changethat gives them the right to receive it.

Overtime pay is the quintessential pocket-book issue, but the workers’ objections arelargely rooted in the immeasurable. Formany, the change amounts to a difficult-to-define feeling that their work and status ischeapened.

“Not every company saw this coming, and Icertainly don’t think the regulators had asense that this was going to happen,” saidJonathan Sulds, an attorney with corporatelaw firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in

Please see OVERTIME, Page C6

STATE

Economic outlookconference set

Four leading economistswill offer their opinions onwhere the economy is head-ing at Economic Outlook, aconference Sept. 10 at theFluno Center at UW-Madison. Speakers will beGina Montana of SEI Invest-ments, Oak, Pa.; Andy Engel,Leuthold Weeden CapitalManagement, Minneapolis;Robert Genetski, Robert Ge-netski & Associates, Chicago;and Donald Nichols, UW-Madison economics andpublic affairs professor. Theconference is sponsored bythe UW-Madison School ofBusiness’ Executive Educa-tion program. Fee for the ses-sion is $395; register online atwww.uwexeced.com or bycalling 800-348-8964.

STATE

Firms invitedfor trade mission

Wisconsin companies in-terested in selling their prod-ucts to Japan and economicdevelopment officials lookingfor Japanese investors canjoin the Wisconsin businessdelegation to Japan, Sept. 23-30. Led by Gov. Jim Doyle,the delegation will attend theMidwest U.S.-Japan/Japan-Midwest U.S. Conference inTokyo, Sept. 26-28. Japan hasbeen Wisconsin’s second-largest export customer, with$816.7 million worth of Wis-consin products sold toJapan in 2003. For more in-formation about the tradedelegation, call Mary Regel at608-266-1767.

Packaging firm dealAn Appleton company has

agreed to acquire a packag-ing company in ChippewaFalls. Great Northern Corp.will buy Kell Container,which is expected to con-tinue operating with its 200employees. News of the salecomes two weeks after Presi-dent Bush praised John Kellfor the family’s entrepreneur-ial spirit and for creating jobsin Chippewa Falls.

NATION

Google stock salesGoogle’s employees and

other insiders will be free tosell an additional 4.67 millionshares of the company’sstock today, providing an-other test of the onlinesearch engine’s popularitywith investors. The Googleshares eligible to begin trad-ing Thursday represent thefirst in several waves of in-sider stock that could pourinto the market during thenext few months.

Quantum Devices photos

A young leukemia patient receives treatment with a device developed by Quantum Devices in which high-intensitylight stimulates healing.

Quantum Devices hascreated a popular lightingtechnology that could beused in medical applications.By Ken SingletaryAssistant business editor

Quantum Devices is gainingrecognition for technology devel-oped for NASA that now is beingused by the Department of De-fense and consumers.

The Barneveld company set outto create lighting to grow plantson long, manned space missions.The technology, which uses chipsthe size of a grain of salt, producesmore photon energy than the sunat some wave lengths but withoutexcess heat, said founder andchairman Ron Ignatius. NASA re-

cently chose the company as thesubject of a Web-based video.

Quantum Devices also learnedthat its technology could be usedin medical applications, in whichhigh-intensity light activates

drugs, including those for cancerpatients, and helps in the treat-ment of minor conditions such asarthritis and muscle strains. Thecompany’s WARP 10 device — ahandheld light source — is beingused by U.S. service members de-ployed overseas as first aid forminor injuries and pain.

A consumer version of the prod-uct is available through the com-pany’s Web site,www.quantumdev.com and is sell-ing well, company officials said.

Quantum Devices, a privatelyowned company, has about 80employees, up from 45 at the be-ginning of the year. Revenues rose30 percent per year in the pastthree years and are on track tocontinue that pace, Ignatius said.

Contact Ken Singletary atksingletary@madison.comor 252-6159.

The company’s Warp 10 device canalso be used by consumers for a vari-ety of minor and chronic conditions,such as arthritis or muscle strains. TheWarp 10 is for sale through the com-pany’s Web site, www.quantum-dev.com.

Manufacturingup but atslower pace

Stark Company Realty moves to Fitchburg By Seth SutelAssociated Press

NEW YORK — Manufacturing activity rosein August for the 15th consecutive month butat a slower rate than in July, according to amonthly report released Wednesday by theInstitute for Supply Management, a researchgroup.

The ISM’s index for manufacturing activitystood at 59 in August, 3 points below the 62recorded in July and just below the level anal-ysts were expecting.

Nonetheless, the survey, together with aseparate report showing that constructionspending hit an all-time high in July, painteda positive picture for the economy overalland suggested that the economic expansionremained on solid footing.

Any reading in the ISM index above 50means that manufacturing is expanding,while below 50 means activity is contracting.The index has been above 50 since June 2003.

The ISM report indicated healthy activity in

Please see MANUFACTURE, Page C5

By Marv BalousekBusiness reporter

Stark Company Realtors has moved into a newFitchburg headquarters and has added about 15employees to its headquarters staff, presidentDavid Stark said Wednesday at an open house.

About 50 employees will work at the new $2million headquarters building at 2980 ArapahoDrive. The 13,500-square-foot building, designedand built by TJK Design and Construction Co. ofMadison, is on the northwest corner of HighwayPD and Seminole Highway.

Stark said the real estate company, which hasabout 290 employees at seven locations in south-central Wisconsin, had become too large for itsold headquarters building at 717 John NolenDrive.

“It was a great spot,” he said. “We had just out-grown it. It was roughly half the size of thisbuilding.”

Please see STARK, Page C5

Stark photo

Stark Company Realtors will move into a new $2 million headquartersbuilding at 2980 Arapaho Drive.

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BUSINESSBusiness Editor: Jennifer Sereno (608) 252-6155Thursday, September 2, 2004

INSIDE: GM, Ford report disappointing sales/C6

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