Economy Briefs

MICHIGAN

GM official says talks with UAW under way

DETROIT — The head of General Motors Co.’s North American operations believes new contract talks with the United Auto Workers will be different from the contentious bargaining of the past.

Mark Reuss, GM president for North America, said Monday the two sides have been talking informally for the past 18 months about items that can benefit both the company and the union. The formal start to the talks is scheduled July 27.

With the 2009 bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler still fresh in their minds, both sides have been sounding conciliatory tones. UAW President Bob King has said repeatedly that he wants to be a business partner with the Detroit automakers.

The UAW’s master contract with GM, Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co. expires in September.

Although he characterized the talks as amicable, Mr. Reuss conceded there will be give and take as the company and union stake out their demands.

NEW YORK

Former Citigroup VP faces fraud charges

NEW YORK — A former Citigroup vice president embezzled $19.2 million from the bank in a one-man “inside job” involving a series of secret money transfers, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Gary Foster, 35, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., was arrested Sunday at John F. Kennedy International Airport after arriving on a flight from Bangkok. Defense attorney Isabelle Kirshner said Mr. Foster had “returned voluntarily and is prepared to address the issue.”

Officials at Citigroup Inc., where Mr. Foster was vice president of the treasury finance department, said in a statement they were “outraged by the actions of this former employee” and hoped to see him “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Mr. Foster “used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

ARKANSAS

Army awards $286 million contract for rockets

CAMDEN — The U.S. Army has awarded a $286 million contract to General Dynamics in Arkansas for the production of air-to-ground rockets.

Under the contract, the Hydra-70 rockets are to be delivered by April 2015, General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics Corp., announced in a news release Monday.

It did not specify how many rockets are on order. The contract exercises a fiscal year 2011 option on an existing contract.

“We recently produced our four-millionth Hydra, and we look forward to the five-millionth, in fulfilling our commitment to deliver a high-quality product to war-fighters in the field,” said Russ Klein, the company’s vice president and general manager of weapon systems.

The 70 mm rockets will be produced at the company’s plant in Camden, Ark., which has more than 300 employees and has been the sole manufacturer of Hydra rockets since 1996.

DELAWARE

Tribune seeks approval of bankruptcy plan

WILMINGTON — Tribune Co. and some of its creditors are seeking a judge’s approval of a plan that would allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

A separate group of creditors who oppose the plan say that it would hamper attempts to sue former Tribune Co. shareholders who benefited from a buyout that left the company saddled with debt.

Tribune’s committee of unsecured creditors backs the company’s plan. An attorney for the committee argued in Delaware on Monday that the opponents would get at least $432 million under Tribune’s plan. He described their desire to win more through lawsuits as a long shot.

From wire dispatches and staff reports