John F. Walker Jr., managing partner of...

John F. Walker Jr., managing partner of the prestigious Los Angeles law firm, Latham & Watkins, said he will step down by the end of the year and resume practice. Walker’s decision, announced last week at a firm retreat, came as a surprise to many of the firm’s partners. He assumed the position in October, 1987, shepherding the firm through substantial changes in the legal profession and at the firm itself. . . . Teamsters members, by a 3-1 margin, turned down the 25% hike that had been proposed by their president to save the union’s nearly bankrupt strike fund, a spokesman said. The vote casts a shadow over the future of the struggling union, whose membership is steadily declining. . . . Kemper Corp. said it urged its shareholders to reject General Electrics proposed $2.2-billion takeover, but did not rule out a merger at a price higher. . . . Trans World Airlines said it hired Reno Air’s chief executive, Jeffrey Erickson, to be the carrier’s new president and chief operating officer. . . . A consortium led by GTE Corp. signed the first of an expected two-part agreement with the government of Argentina to provide cellular telephone service in the interior of the country.