"It's a good term, 'grandfathered,' because those folks were preserved at a wage-and-benefits level that was essentially twice the market," Mr. Glynn said. Already, 50 percent of the upper-tier workers who were around in 2004 have left, through retirement and attrition.

New hires are encouraged to view assembly-line work as short term. The way up from the admittedly meager wage scale is not a better union contract, the message goes, but a promotion — if not within Caterpillar, then at another employer. Driving a forklift or working on an assembly line for 20 years should not be a career goal.

I wonder why labor doesn't try asking for profit sharing instead of wage hikes.

Two Tiers, Slipping Into One

Hold on to your hats! IBM has subpoenaed Microsoft! And Sun! At last, we're getting to the core of the matter. We're going to get to find out the whole story. I'd pay for this. No kidding. Feast your eyes on these and don't skip the topics for deposition:

Its been pretty ... well not quiet but proceedural and boring on the SCO v IBM front for some time. Finally, a little action.

IBM Subpoenas Microsoft! Sun! Baystar and HP!

Sony will also begin bundling DVDs and UMDs in packages at a relatively minimal price increase. The move is part Sony's larger vision of media management.

Finally, someone's figured out that its crazy to ask people to buy the same thing twice.

Sony Sets Blu-ray Pricing

With the United States Patent and Trademark Office struggling to define what is and isn’t patentable and high-profile lawsuits clogging the court systems globally, Microsoft on Thursday said it will strengthen its intellectual property protections for its embedded software partners.

Apparently Microsoft is going to indemnify Windows Embedded/Mobile OEMs.

Redmond Hikes Patent Defense

In an effort to curtail the steady loss of dial-up customers, AOL announced yesterday that it would sell high-speed Internet services through AT&T, BellSouth and Qwest Communications.

3 Phone Companies to Offer AOL's Broadband Services

WANT to hear some good news for the labor movement? The percentage of American workers who are union members remained almost steady in the private sector last year.

The bad news is that the figure stood at 7.8 percent — less than a third of the rate of the early 1970's.

Unions Pay Dearly for Success

"Itanium has been taking share from both IBM power and Sun Sparc. We're on the right trajectory, but we want to go faster," Tom Kilroy, general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, said at a press event here. "The $10 billion investment is a statement that we want to accelerate as a unified body."

Maybe in servers but last I checked, Itanium wasn't in any of the 3 next-gen game consoles...

Allies pledge $10 billion to boost Itanium

Advanced Micro Devices, the computer chip maker, reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday that far exceeded Wall Street estimates and showed that it poses a serious threat to the Intel Corporation, the world's biggest chip maker.

Advanced Micro Earnings Beat Estimates

What took it so long? The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 Monday for the first time in more than four years -- one indicator of Wall Street's slow recovery from terror attacks, recession and corporate scandals.

Dow 'Catching Up' As It Closes Above 11,000

In a very unusual keynote address Friday, Google CEO Larry Page urged the consumer electronics industry to make life easier for consumers by standardizing things like power supplies.

It was totally unreal to be in the room with everyone watching this live.

Larry Page, Robin Williams rock CES