Iris International

said Tuesday that it has appointed Peter Donato as the Chatsworth-based urinalysis equipment maker’s new chief financial officer, effective Aug. 10. Donato will replace Veronica Tarrant, who served as interim CFO since November 2006 after former CFO Don Mueller left the company.

Clerks representing four of the 14 companies at the

ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

approved a labor contract, a union local official said Monday. The rest of the clerks are expected to approve the contract by Friday. The new contract made the base pay for full-time clerks about $78,000 a year, and it boosted pay 7 percent pay over the life of the three-year contract. The agreement sidesteps labor trouble at the L.A. and Long Beach ports, which handle more than 40 percent of shipping containers imported to the United States.