Southwest, mechanics reach deal on a five-year contract
Southwest Airlines Co. mechanics approved a new contract that provides pay increases and a retroactive bonus, closing out more than six years of negotiations that included a lawsuit and an alleged worker slowdown.
The five-year agreement won 95 percent support from the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union said last week. About 94 percent of eligible voters participated.
The approval removes uncertainty for the airline over costs, and ends the threat of further flight disruptions less than three months after Southwest sued the union for deliberately slowing operations.
The deal provides employees $160 million in retroactive pay as a ratification bonus, an immediate 20 percent raise effective April 1, and 3 percent annual increases each August, according to an earlier statement from the union and Southwest. The Dallas-based carrier secured new work rules in the contract that are designed to increase productivity.
Austin tech hub seeks to expand into Houston
Capital Factory Accelerator, an Austin-based startup hub, is partnering with west Houston startup hub the Cannon as it seeks to develop and expand its efforts. It will provide participating companies with six months of office space along with access to mentors and funding from the two cities.
The Cannon, which is opening a new location just north of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8, will provide a dedicated space and video conference equipment for Capital Factory Accelerator companies.
Capital Factory will hire employees to help find mentors and Houston companies to join its program. In addition to its accelerator program, Capital Factory will look for prospective investments for its venture fund, which has invested in Houston startups Apartment Butler, which uses an app to coordinate housekeeping, pet care and laundry for apartment communities, and machine learning and artificial intelligent company Hypergiant.
Five Texas power co-ops buy solar generation
Five electric cooperatives in Texas have agreed to buy 7 megawatts of solar generation from a Canadian renewable energy developer, enough to power about 1,400 Texas homes on a hot summer day.
Saturn Power will sell power to the cooperatives through 20-year power purchase agreements. The buyers include Bartlett Electric Cooperative and Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, both north of Austin; Comanche Electric Cooperative southwest of Dallas-Fort Worth; PenTex Energy north of Dallas-Fort Worth; and South Plains Electric Cooperative south of Amarillo.
Solar arrays for each buyer will be placed on the cooperatives’ distribution systems, thereby avoiding demand charges and generation capacity charges from the state grid manager Electric Reliability Council of Texas, according to an announcement from Coloradobased environmental group Rocky Mountain Institute, which represented the buyers in the deal.
The solar systems are scheduled to begin operation by June 2020.
Friendswood firm wins A&M competition
Friendswood-based Spark Biomedical, developing neurostimulation treatments for opioid withdrawal and addiction, received $50,000 as the winner of Texas A&M New Ventures Competition.
The annual pitch competition is designed to promote the commercialization of emerging technologies. More than $500,000 in cash and other prizes were awarded at the event. Since 2015, more than $1.5 million has been awarded to Texas-based startups.
This year’s winners included: Spark Biomedical of Friendswood (1st place, $50,000 award); SurfEllent, Houston (2nd, $35,000); Intelligent Implants, Houston (3rd, $25,000); Teysha Technologies, Austin (4th, $15,000); VenoStent, Houston (5th, $10,000); and GaitIQ, San Antonio (6th, $5,000).
Dressbarn to close; 15 Houston stores will be affected
Dressbarn, a value fashion brand of Ascena Retail Group, will begin winding down operations, its parent company announced Monday. Dressbarn has 51 stores in Texas, including 15 in the Houston area.
The decision, designed to strengthen the parent company’s financial performance, will not impact Ascena’s other brands. Those include Ann Taylor, Loft, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant, Catherines, Cacique and Justice. Ascena recently completed sale of its Maurices brand.
Dressbarn had 674 stores at the end of the second quarter, down from 741 a year earlier. Ascena Retail Group operates 3,500 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.