News digest 10 March 2011
Hutton hits pensions – The
final report by Lord Hutton into public sector pensions was
published this morning. All the papers have detailed coverage, and
the main points for public sector workers including teachers,
nurses and council staff can be summed up as the end of final
salary pensions and a move to defined benefit schemes; a ceiling on
the cost to the taxpayer; people will have to work longer before
they can claim their pensions; they will also have to pay more for
what will probably be a lower sum as the switch from RPI to CPI
hits. A total of six million people will be affected – and remember
the average pension is in the region of £4,000-£6,000. The concern
is that pension provision across the country will just be a race to
the bottom. Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail, said:
”The Hutton Review comes hard on the heels of other
government proposals which will seriously erode public sector
pensions … the warm words on protecting
the low paid are little comfort to the largely female workforce in
the schemes. Hutton says there's a limit to the amount people will
save via pension contributions - unfortunately, many will vote with
their feet, opting out of pension saving and thereby ensuring they
are trapped in pension poverty when they retire.”
(Unite
release). The Mirror
(p6/8) calls it a disgrace slamming how the government is squeezing
public servants, the Sun
(p2) focuses on public sector fat cats with pension pots over £3
million, but that is just 3,000 people out of the six million
affected, the Express (p1)
and Mail (p1) both lead
with the expectation that people may have to work a decade longer
before they get their pensions while the Times (p1) also says the armed
forces face shock pressures from the reforms and the Indie (p14) also notes that as
the benefits drop more people may choose not to join the scheme
further undermining its long term future. The Guardian (p1/13) and FT (p4) both stress the threat of
concerted strike action which could see schools, courts, job
centres and ports all shut down, public sector unions will meet to
discuss/coordinate their response…
Outfoxing the treasury? – And
defence secretary Liam Fox tells the defence select committee that
he is still in negotiations over £1 billion of new cuts to the MoD
hinting that more money could be available (Telegraph p2, FT p2).
Sharing the wealth – But
after cuts its back to bonuses but rather than bankers the initial
focus is on mutual John Lewis which has announced that its
employees will share a £195 million bonus pot between its 76,500
staff who will get an average bonus of £2,500. All partners – full
time employees – receive the same bonus from shop floor to the
board room (Mirror p59,
Sun p46, Mail p19, Times p41, Indie p30, Guardian p27, Telegraph b1, FT p20).
Pebbles or stones – But
bonuses are less equal at Northern Rock which despite making a loss
last year announced bonuses of £13 million for its 4,500 staff.
However while the vast majority will go to staff earning an average
£20,000 a year (they get a bonus of £2,000) senior managers do
better with finance director Jim McConville getting £185,000.
Unite’s David Fleming slates the job cuts to date – and some papers
report more may be on the way - and calls for the bank to follow
the mutual model: “Serious consideration is now overdue
for Northern Rock to be returned to mutuality in order to give it a
fighting chance to deliver the recovery it desperately needs. While
the coalition claims to support a diverse financial services
industry, the pursuit of a private buyer for Northern Rock
demonstrates that this is merely rhetoric.” (Mirror p59, Sun p46, Express p2, Mail p66, Times p43, Indie p29, Guardian p28, Telegraph b4, FT p19, Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
Halifax gets
makeover – And the new Lloyds boss has signalled that he
plans to shake up the Halifax brand offering better savings rates
and a wider range of mortgages (Guardian p28).
Bonus for exiting Lloyds boss
– The Sun (p46) does however
report that Lloyds Helen Weir will get a £1.7 million bonus after
she was told to go as head of the retail banking business due to
service failures; Lloyds is more than 40 per cent owned by the
taxpayer.
No bonuses for Network Rail –
And the bonus theme continues with taxpayer owned Network Rail
announcing that it plans to scrap bonuses for its executive team
this year, while ATOC calls for the body to be split up into 10
regional companies (Sun p46,
Times p41, Indie p34).
Fuel duty pressure continues
– As petrol prices rise more concerns are highlighted about the
price at the pump, calls for government to reduce the tax take and
VAT on the cost of filling a tank (Mirror p7, Express p15, Mail p8, Times p9, Indie p34, Telegraph p1).
Air tax attacked – And
chancellor Osborne is also under pressure to rethink the air
passenger duty with the idea to have a tax per plane likely to be
shelved (Guardian p4).
Boeing goes east – Airline
signs deal with Aeroflot for eight long haul passenger jets at
discounted cost of $1.6 billion (FT p23).
EADS back in black – Defence
group bounces back thanks to a boost in business from Airbus
(Indie p34, FT p23)
Lufthansa dividend – And the
German airline has returned to the black too generating €1.1
billion of net profits in 2010, annual results will be published
next week with the company expected to announce it will resume
paying dividends (FT p23).
Nein – Not so good news for
the engine maker as Rolls-Royce’s offer for German ship engine
maker Tognum rebuffed for being too low, expect the offer to be
raised (Sun p46, Express p68, Mail p66, Indie p32, Telegraph b2, FT p23).
Going south – Greencore’s bid
for Northern Foods falls through meaning Harry Ramsden’s chain will
get the company after bidding £342 million (Times p37, FT p20, Morning Star p)
Plain packets - From food to
cigarettes and the government announcement on plain packaging and
hiding cigarettes behind the counter is covered across the papers.
The Morning Star
(p2) stresses Unite’s Jennie Formby who says the move will cost
jobs and aid smugglers by creating a counterfeiters’ charter:
"Switching to plain packaging will make it easier to
sell their illicit and unregulated products especially to young
people. That would undermine the regulated industry, may increase
long-term health problems and put workers in the regulated industry
out of work. Government revenues would suffer significantly and
pressure on health spending increase."
(Mirror p15, Sun p15, Express p3, FT p2)
Laws back as anti-AV vote
mounts – And finally back to the Westminster as the
Indie (p8) says the
coalition is looking to bring disgraced David Laws back into
government to help oversee the delivery of the coalition programme,
or could it be because of Lib Dem worries about the flagship AV
vote? The FT (p2) notes a number
of unions including GMB, Aslef, the POA and Community are actively
campaigning against the vote, although Billy Hayes has come out in
favour (the CWU has not yet decided its position), Unison is
neutral, Unite is campaigning against the vote…
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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