Business news in brief

Engineers who operate SEPTA Regional Rail trains will vote soon on authorizing a strike, the national office of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said Friday. The engineers, as well as SEPTA railroad electrical workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 744, are in a federally mandated 30-day "cooling off" period that will end June 14. After that, it is likely that a presidential emergency board will be created to investigate the long-running labor dispute; that would delay a strike or lockout by up to 240 days. The strike-authorization vote call follows SEPTA's decision to decline an offer of binding arbitration from the National Mediation Board. Both unions, which represent about 440 workers at SEPTA, had agreed to arbitration. The electrical workers authorized a strike several years ago, and that authorization remains in effect, said Arthur Davidson, general chairman of IBEW System Council 7. - Paul Nussbaum

Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in May from a nine-month high, showing Americans are being shaken by rising grocery bills and elevated fuel costs. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sentiment index decreased to 81.8 from 84.1 in April. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a gain to 84.5. Food prices have risen and the cost of gasoline has held near its highest level of the year, making buyers less secure in their finances. - Bloomberg

Darden Restaurants Inc. agreed to sell its Red Lobster seafood-restaurant chain to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion, giving it an injection of cash and time to focus on reviving its Olive Garden business. The sale will result in about $1.6 billion in proceeds, of which about $1 billion will be used to retire debt, Orlando-based Darden said Friday. The remainder will fund a share buyback program. The move caps a quest to free Darden of the underperforming Red Lobster seafood restaurants that chief executive officer Clarence Otis announced in December. While the plan is opposed by activist investors who say it destroys value, Otis says it will help the company focus on turning around Olive Garden, its largest revenue generator. Darden slid 4.3 percent to $48.49 at the close in New York. The stock has dropped 11 percent this year. - Bloomberg