REGION

REGION
Thomas Steel, unionreach a tentative pact
WARREN -- United Steelworkers of America Local 3523 reached a tentative contract agreement overnight Wednesday with Thomas Steel Strip Corp., averting a strike. The current union contract expires at midnight today.
William Pounds, vice president of human resources, said company and union officials have agreed not to release details of the proposed pact until after the union members have informed. Plans for a membership meeting were still being worked out this morning.
Based in Warren, Thomas Steel Strip is a owned by the Corus Group in London. It processes steel for several name-brand battery makers, as well as for ammunition and automotive parts, and employs 560 hourly and salaried workers.
NATION
May plans to close32 Lord & amp; Taylor stores
ST. LOUIS -- May Department Stores Co. is closing 32 of its Lord & amp; Taylor stores in 15 states and two other stores under different names, leaving about 3,700 workers without jobs.
The targeted stores -- representing 38 percent of Lord & amp; Taylor's sites but just 19 percent of the company's sales -- are in markets where Lord & amp; Taylor lacked a major presence and generally had a small number of stores, the retailer said Wednesday. One of the stores being closed is in Pittsburgh.
Pillowtex to liquidate
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- A continuing financial struggle has overcome Pillowtex Corp., which is closing 16 plants and putting nearly 6,500 people out of work in the textile giant's second bankruptcy filing in less than three years.
But this time Pillowtex won't reorganize -- it will disappear.
Pillowtex, the nation's third-largest maker of home textiles, sought protection from creditors Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., saying it will liquidate its assets. With a big debt repayment deadline looming and no single buyer in sight, Pillowtex said it did not have the cash to continue operating.
From Vindicator staff and wire reports