Factory orders fall in January
Black & Decker acquires Vector Products
Judge awards whistleblowers back wages, damages

Factory orders fall in January
New orders for manufactured goods in January, down following three consecutive monthly increases, decreased $18.9 billion or 4.5 percent to $398.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. This followed a 1.6 percent December increase.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in January, down following three consecutive monthly increases, decreased $22.9 billion or 9.9 percent to $207.8 billion, revised from the previously published 10.2 percent decrease. This followed a 2.5 percent December increase.

Transportation equipment, down following three consecutive monthly increases, had the largest decrease, $24.3 billion or 31 percent to $54.2 billion. 

Machinery, up two of the last three months, had the largest increase, $500 million or 1.1 percent to $48.3 billion.

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Black & Decker acquires Vector Products
The Black & Decker Corporation purchased Vector Products Inc., a designer and marketer of consumer portable power products, for $160 million in cash. 

Vector's products, including power inverters, jump-starters, vehicle battery chargers and rechargeable spotlights, had more than $150 million of sales in 2005.

"Vector is a highly innovative, fast-growing and profitable company that will fit well with the Black & Decker consumer products group," said Nolan D. Archibald, Black & Decker chairman and CEO. "We began licensing the Black & Decker brand to Vector in 2005, and have become increasingly impressed with their talented team and entrepreneurial spirit over the past year. This acquisition will give us new technologies and categories that complement our world-class product development expertise, provide opportunities in the automotive and marine distribution channels, and generate synergies with our distribution network. We expect the transaction will be slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2006, and add 10 cents to 15 cents of annualized EPS in 2007."

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Judge awards whistleblowers back wages, damages
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York ordered a Ransomville, N.Y., tool manufacturer and its president to pay two workers a total of $35,800 in back wages and $10,500 in punitive damages for terminating them from their jobs after the men filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The order requires defendants V.R.K. Manufacturing and Tools Co. Inc. and company president Roman Klur to make payment within 60 days and permanently prohibits them from violating the anti-retaliation provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

"No worker should be fired, penalized or discriminated against for voicing workplace safety and health concerns," said Patricia K. Clark, OSHA's regional administrator. "This decision reaffirms that basic right as well as the Labor Department's commitment to taking appropriate and aggressive steps to enforce the law. The awarding of punitive damages is significant, since they can help deter future discrimination by this or other employers."

Two employees of V.R.K. Manufacturing and Tools were fired on May 3, 2003, one week after filing a complaint with OSHA about safety and health issues at their workplace. The workers then filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA, alleging they were discriminated against for exercising the rights granted them under the OSH Act.

OSHA's investigation found merit in the complaint and the agency sought reinstatement, back pay and benefits for the workers. When the employer repeatedly refused to settle the matter, the U.S. Labor Department filed suit in federal court to enforce the findings.

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