BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Delphi temps to be permanent

DETROIT -- Thousands of Delphi Corp. workers hired as temporary employees will become permanent under an agreement reached with the United Auto Workers union, the auto parts maker confirmed Wednesday.

The pact, first announced Tuesday night by union President Ron Gettelfinger, has raised hopes of workers at some of Delphi's U.S. plants that their jobs are more secure.

Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin confirmed that an agreement had been reached but said the company would release details next week.

Monster fires its lead lawyer

NEW YORK -- Monster Worldwide Inc., the parent of job search site Monster.com, said Wednesday that it terminated Myron Olesnyckyj, the company's lead lawyer, as part of its investigation into past stock-option grant practices.

Olesnyckyj, the company's general counsel, is the second high-ranking executive to leave the company over backdated stock options. Andrew J. McKelvey resigned his posts as chairman and chief executive Oct. 9 but at the time retained his seat on the board as chairman emeritus. He resigned fully Oct. 30, citing an unwillingness to sit for further questions over the company's backdating practices in the past.

Air Force likely to review pact

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Air Force is likely to review whether a $15 billion contract for search and rescue helicopters was correctly awarded to Boeing Co., a defense industry analyst predicts.

The sole-source contract awarded Nov. 9 to upgrade 141 Sikorsky Aircraft Pace Hawk helicopters caught many in the defense industry by surprise, says Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute and longtime government adviser.

The Air Force has not yet decided whether to do a review, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The Boeing contract has been put on hold until the Government Accountability Office reviews protests filed by competitors Lockheed Martin Corp. and Sikorsky Aircraft, a division of United Technologies Corp. All three companies bid on the contract in November 2005.

Dell shares up on profit report

DALLAS -- Dell shares climbed more than 9 percent Wednesday, a day after the big computer maker beat Wall Street earnings estimates with its delayed third-quarter report.

Its shares rose $2.31, or 9.3 percent, to close at $27.13 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $18.95 to $33.22.

After the markets closed Tuesday, Dell Inc. said its preliminary reading was that it earned $677 million, or 30 cents per share, in the three months ended Nov. 3, up from $606 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue was $14.4 billion.

Analysts, on average, had been looking for third-quarter earnings of 24 cents per share on sales of $14.44 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.