A union alliance is claiming that Principal Financial Group Inc. should be denied government funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program because of its lobbying activity, which includes efforts to defeat a pro-labor initiative and takes a stance against the Employee Free Choice Act, Reuters reported. Change to Win, an alliance of seven unions representing 6 million workers, singled out Principal in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner concerning lobbying by financial companies that are receiving federal funds. The union group said Principal’s lobbying efforts run counter to the interests of taxpayers. In response Principal issued a statement that said it “has not taken a position on the Employee Free Choice Act, nor do we plan to take such a position.”

A total of 237,900 workers lost their jobs through mass layoffs in January, a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report stated. The January total was up 11,790 from December, even though the number of mass layoff events declined. The bureau counted 2,227 mass layoff events in January, compared with 2,275 in December. A mass layoff is defined as a single action by a single employer that causes at least 50 workers to lose their jobs.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford agreed to take 30 percent salary reductions for this year and next, Ford said in a memo to employees yesterday, CNNMoney reported. Additionally, Ford’s board of directors announced it will forgo all cash compensation for 2009 and eliminate performance bonuses for global salaried employees and senior executives for 2009.

The Technology Association of Iowa and LWBJ Financial will host the fourth annual Prometheus Awards on Tuesday, March 3, at the Meadows Conference Center in Altoona. Walter Puschner, vice president of worldwide field information technology at Microsoft Corp., will be the keynote speaker for the event. More than 500 industry leaders from business, education and government are expected to attend the awards ceremony. For tickets and more information, visit www.technologyiowa.org, or call (515) 280-7702.

Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings Inc., and Michael Durney, the company’s chief financial officer, will present at the Jefferies fifth annual Internet and media conference in New York City at 12:40 p.m. today Iowa time. Investors and interested parties may listen to a live webcast of the presentation by visiting the Dice’s Web site at www.diceholdingsinc.com under the investor relations section.

Correction:

Year-over-year earnings comparisons for three financial institutions listed in the briefs section of this week’s Business Record were incorrect. The chart should have shown Charter Bank’s 2008 net income as $844,000, a 16 percent increase over 2007 net income of $730,000; Liberty Bank’s 2008 net income as $4,748,000, a 43 percent decrease from 2007 net income of $8,294,000; and Midwest Heritage Bank’s net income as $1,326,000, a 32 percent increase from 2007 net income of $1,007,000.