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Strategies & Market Trends : YEEHAW CANDIDATES -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken W who wrote (1550)	3/15/2003 12:16:52 AM
From: JoeinIowa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23958

Ken, More DHB news. I'm not sure Sergio would get the DHB references even if they hit him from say Point Blank range. LOL. Still think TRIB is getting ready. Joe News for 'DHB' - (Oakland Park, Fla., Body Armor Defense Contractor Faces New Allegations) Mar 14, 2003 (South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- No sooner had Point Blank Body Armor Inc. on Thursday announced that a shareholder lawsuit filed by a union pension fund against the company had been dismissed than it was fielding new allegations by the union trying to organize its workers at the Oakland Park defense contractor. DHB Industries Inc., the Carle Place, N.Y.-based parent company of Point Blank, announced the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 112 Pension Fund in State Supreme Court in New York. "We have always maintained that this was a frivolous lawsuit motivated by an unscrupulous union," said DHB Chairman and CEO David Brooks. "We are pleased that we can put this lawsuit to rest and get on with our business." But a short time later, the company was defending itself against allegations that it violated federal law in hiring a former Army contracting officer for the Interceptor vests made by Point Blank as a company executive within four months of leaving his government post. The issue was raised by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) in its The DHB Minority Report sent to shareholders of DHB Industries. UNITE says that Edward C. Lavigne, a former contracting officer for the U.S. Army Material Command Acquisition Center in Natick, Mass., and team leader for the U.S. Marine Corps acquisitions, went to work for DHB on Jan. 19, 2001, four months after he last signed off on a multimillion-dollar Interceptor order as a federal contract officer. The company denies the allegation, calling it a "smear tactic" by the union to discredit its business. "It is inaccurate," Brooks said. The company says that Lavigne was hired as vice president of a wholly owned subsidiary of DHB called NDL Products Inc., which shares the same the facility at Point Blank in Oakland Park. NDL makes sports support equipment and clothing, and does make coveralls for the military. Lavigne is currently vice president of sales for Point Blank. Under federal law, a former federal contracting officer is prohibited from working for a contractor within a year after he awarded or managed a contract in excess of $10 million. However, an exemption allows that officer to work for a division or affiliate of the contractor if it does not produce the same product or service. "UNITE wants to disrupt and discredit our business. They keep up these tactics up so we will accept the union. If a union should come here, it should be by a democratic vote by the workers of this facility, not through intimidation," Brooks said. But UNITE is postponing an election, saying the current atmosphere at Point Blank is "tainted" and not conducive for a free election, said union spokesman Luke Brindle. He said the union intends to file additional charges of labor law violations with the National Labor Relations Board. By Joan Fleischer Tamen To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to sun-sentinel.com. (c) 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.