BUSINESS BRIEFS: Brink’s buys second security firm in Brazil

VIRGINIA

Brink's buys second security firm in Brazil

RADFORD -- The Brink's Co., a Henrico County-based security services company, has acquired a Brazilian security firm.

Brink's, which has a substantial presence in Brazil through a subsidiary there, said it will pay about $50 million for Sebival, a provider of cash-in-transit and payment processing services in midwestern Brazil.

Sebival employs 3,300 people and has annual revenue of about $60 million. Established in 1970, Sebival has 20 branch locations.

Brink's provides secure transportation and cash management services.

Survey: more workplace injuries in government

New numbers show more workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in Virginia from those in government jobs than in the private sector in 2007.

According to a Virginia Department of Labor and Industry report released yesterday, 104,200 workers were injured or became ill on the job in 2007.

Of those, 5.2 of every 100 full-time workers in state and local government jobs reported an injury or illness, compared with 3.2 per 100 private employees.

FedEx adding jobs at larger Radford facility

FedEx Ground plans to double the size of its Radford operation and hire 60 people by 2012.

The company says 50 other workers will transfer from a smaller facility in Radford to the 37,000-square-foot building in the Pulaski County Corporate Center, north of Interstate 81.

The $4 million project for the subsidiary of FedEx Corp. is part of an ongoing national expansion to boost daily package volume capacity and speed deliveries.

Since 2002, FedEx Ground has expanded or relocated more than 500 facilities. It now handles an average of 3.3 million packages a day, up from 2.1 million in 2003.

THE NATION

Jobless claims rose in December, report says

WASHINGTON -- The number of laid-off workers who are continuing to draw unemployment checks jumped more than expected to 4.6 million at the end of December and is likely to keep climbing this year.

The Labor Department's report yesterday was fresh evidence that people are finding it increasingly difficult to get a new job amid a deepening recession.

First-time applications for jobless benefits dropped to 467,000 last week. But economists largely described that decline as a distortion, reflecting the government's difficulty in making seasonal adjustments over the holiday period.

Even with the dip, the figure still signaled trouble in the labor market. A year ago, initial claims stood at 330,000.

The government's report showed that the number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits rose 101,000 for the week that ended Dec. 27, the most recent period for which that information is available.

That increase to 4.6 million left continued claims at the highest level since November 1982, when the country was emerging from a deep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then. A year ago, this figure stood at nearly 2.7 million.

51 mine deaths in'08 fewest in nearly century

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell to 51 in 2008, the fewest number of deaths in nearly a century, according to data released by federal regulators yesterday.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration reported that 29 of the deaths occurred in coal mines, down from 34 in 2007; and 22 were in copper, stone and other types of mines, down from 33 in 2007.

The 51 deaths are the lowest number since the federal government began keeping records in 1910. The previous low was 55 in 2004.

Revamped safety laws and beefed up enforcement were among factors that led to the overall decline in mining deaths, federal mine safety chief Richard Stickler said.

Yet "51 fatalities are 51 tragedies -- 51 families that will be forever changed," he said. "And that is unacceptable and disheartening."

Union, car makers start concession talks soon

DETROIT -- United Auto Workers union bargaining officials are arriving in Detroit this week to begin discussing wage and benefit concessions they must make so General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC can keep their federal loans.

Under the terms of the $17.4 billion granted to GM and Chrysler last month, the companies have until Feb. 17 to hammer out amendments to their current contracts that would bring labor costs in line with those of employees at foreign auto companies' plants in the U.S.

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