Maui coffee farm gets Starbucks certification

A Maui coffee farm has joined four Hawaii island companies in being certified by Starbucks as an ethical source of beans.

MauiGrown Coffee was awarded the Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E.) certification by Starbucks. MauiGrown is only the fifth coffee supplier in Hawaii to achieve the designation, according to Starbucks. The others are Greenwell Farms, Kau Local Products, Kau Specialty Coffee and The Parry Estate.

Starbucks said its certification promotes social, economic and environmental welfare through verifications that include fair treatment of workers, payments to farmers, reduced agrochemical use, and conservation of water and energy.

OSHA cites Ashley Furniture for violations

Ashley Furniture, one of the world’s largest furniture manufacturers, faces $1.7 million in penalties to settle charges that unsafe conditions at its manufacturing plant in Arcadia, Wis., led to more than 1,000 injuries.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for dozens of violations, including disregard for safety standards that led to a number of gruesome injuries. In July one worker lost three fingers while operating a woodworking machine, the agency said.

The company also offered employees incentives to work quickly, a practice that encouraged dangerous factory conditions, the agency said.

"Regrettably, Ashley Furniture has become a frequent flier for OSHA," Thomas E. Perez, the labor secretary, said in an interview. "We have been inspecting this plant a number of times. We have found violations previously. They have been fined; we have come back. The fundamental challenge is they need to build a better culture of safety, and that hasn’t happened."

In a statement, Ashley Furniture said it "strongly disputes the allegations from OSHA" and "looks forward to the opportunity to pre­sent our evidence in the proper setting."

Nut rage executive facing 3 years in jail

SEOUL » South Korean prosecutors Monday recommended three years in jail for the former Korean Air executive charged with endangering flight safety during a tantrum over how she was served macadamia nuts.

Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of Korean Air’s chairman, has pleaded not guilty to four charges. In the final day of testimony, she defended her actions as the result of devotion to work and said cabin crew in first class had erred by not following proper procedures.

Cho ordered the chief flight attendant off a Dec. 5 flight after a heated confrontation with cabin crew, forcing the plane to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

She was angry at being offered nuts in a bag, instead of on a dish. Park Chang-jin, the chief attendant, told the court he and others were treated like "feudal slaves" by Cho.

Exxon net sags but chemical unit helps

IRVING, TEXAS » Exxon Mobil Corp.’s earnings fell 21 percent in the fourth quarter because of a sharp drop in global crude oil prices. But results still beat Wall Street expectations on lower taxes, a favorable ruling in a dispute with Venezuela, and a strong performance from its chemical division.

Exxon said Monday that it earned $6.57 billion in the final three months of last year on revenue of $87.28 billion. That’s down from $8.35 billion on revenue of $110.86 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The Irving, Texas-based company said it earned $1.56 per share. The results beat Wall Street expectations, but Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.33 per share.

Oil prices declined sharply throughout the quarter, reducing Exxon revenue and profit. Lower crude prices meant its chemical and refining operations were able to buy oil — the raw material for fuels and many chemicals — for much less. That helped boost chemical earnings by 35 percent to $1.2 billion, but higher maintenance costs pushed refining profits lower. Exxon said its net income got a $1 billion boost from deferred income taxes in the U.S. and an arbitration ruling over assets in Venezuela that had been seized by the Venezuelan government.

Deaths from GM ignition issue at least 51

DETROIT » The families of 51 people who died in crashes caused by faulty ignition switches in General Motors cars will get payments from a company fund, but others will have to wait months for decisions on thousands of claims.

Compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg also has deemed 77 people injured in crashes as eligible for payments from the fund, which received at least 4,180 claims by a Saturday deadline, including more than 1,100 in the past week.

ON THE MOVE

Matson has announced the following: 

» Dave Hoppes, senior vice president of ocean services, will be retiring March 31. He has served more than 25 years at Matson and has worked in various positions in operations as well as sales, which gave him a comprehensive understanding of the firm’s entire network of services.

» John Lauer, vice president of trans-Pacific services at Matson Navigation Co., will become the new senior vice president of ocean services when Hoppes retires. Lauer has 30 years of experience in the maritime industry and has been with Matson the past seven years, overseeing the company’s China services.

» Chris Scott, director of Asia at Matson Navigation Co., will succeed Lauer as vice president of trans-Pacific services at Matson Navigation Co. on March 31. Scott has been with the firm since 1995 and has held numerous positions, including serving Matson in China as director of Asia as well as manager of container operations in Hono­lulu.