BUSINESS DIGEST

REGION

Gold cup for Schwebel

YOUNGSTOWN— The Schwebel Baking Co. has received the Long Company’s Best Premium Bun Gold Cup Annual Trophy for the fourth year in a row. More than 70 wholesale bakeries send premium bread samples to the Long Company, a cooperative serving independent bakers, for scoring on qualities such as crust thickness and color, interior grain and uniformity of cell structure, flavor, aroma and general eating qualities.

Schwebel’s Hebron, Ohio, facility scored 95.89 points out of a possible 100 points in the bun category, while Schwebel’s Youngstown plant scored third with a score of 95.05.

Pact to save for Goodyear

CLEVELAND — Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. says a new national contract with the United Steelworkers union will save the company $215 million over the four-year life of the agreement. Combined with earlier staff-reduction agreements at five plants, the Akron, Ohio-based tire maker said that it expects $555 million in savings over four years. Goodyear agreed to invest $600 million over four years to upgrade plants represented by the Steelworkers.

The agreement covers about 10,300 workers at plants in Akron; Gadsden, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Topeka, Kan.; Danville, Va.; Fayetteville, N.C., and Union City, Tenn.

NATION

GM to end trial program

DETROIT — General Motors says it’s ending a trial program that put new cars for sale in California on eBay as it shifts its focus to national marketing efforts. GM spokesman John McDonald said the trial was slated to end today, after a run of about six weeks.

Through eBay’s auto marketplace, car shoppers in California were able to negotiate a price with a dealer, or buy the vehicle at a fixed price and pick it up at a dealership. McDonald said the Web site received 1.5 million visits, providing 15,000 leads for dealers.

Sears to pay to settle case

WASHINGTON — Sears Holdings Corp. has agreed to pay a record $6.2 million to settle allegations that it illegally fired employees who are disabled. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the settlement is the largest it has reached in a single case under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The EEOC claimed the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer fired hundreds of employees who took workers’-compensation leave after being injured on the job. The lawsuit said Sears failed to offer injured workers a reasonable accommodation that would have allowed them to return to work. A consent decree approving the settlement requires Sears to abide by the ADA and change its workers’- compensation leave policy.

Vindicator staff/wire reports