News digest 26 September 2011
The digest opens with detailed coverage of
the first day of the Labour party conference and the challenges
ahead for leader Ed Miliband. The eurozone crisis is deepening,
there are more banking job cuts, confusion over public sector
pensions while agency workers will finally get equal rights.
Osborne is warned over welfare reform while he gives angels tax
breaks, but while companies are cutting plans by big business are
outlined to get Britain working again, and they chime with plans
put forward by Ed Balls in his speech today…
Labour and the economy – The
Labour party conference kicked off yesterday with a pledge from Ed
Miliband to cap tuition fees to £6,000 a year and a well received
address from new party chair Iain McNicol, while Ken Livingstone
laid out his stall for London. Ed Miliband also refused to condemn
the proposed strike action on 30 November and said the fault lied
with the government for not engaging in proper negotiations. The
Labour leader also backed down on plans to dilute the union role in
Labour leadership elections; most of the right-wing tabloids lay
into Ed Miliband proving he must be doing something right. Today
sees Ed Balls (interview in Indie p22-23) warn that the
government needs to rethink its ‘Plan A’ for austerity and develop
a plan to get people back to work, the economy growing and tax
coffers rising. Balls will call for a global plan for growth
arguing Cameron and Osborne are blinkered by a focus on cutting the
debt and not coordinating action to what is a crisis in the global
economy (Mirror p1/4-5,
Sun p2/6, Express p4, Mail p8-9/33, Times p1/6-7/20, Indie p2/4-7, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p1/4-5/23, FT p1-2, Morning Star p2).
eurozone bailout on the cards
– Many of the papers also look at the wider economic crisis in the
eurozone with plans underway to provide a massive boost to the
banking system to protect it from the fall out of the Greek debt
crisis. The annual meeting of the IMF in Washington closed on
Sunday with no immediate consensus on how to deal with the crisis,
although it looks likes the €440 billion bailout facility may rise
even further to a €2 trillion war chest that can reverse any
threatened market contagion and downgrades. November’s G20 summit
in Cannes is seen as the next key point but a number of questions
remain including whether Greece is rescued on allowed to default,
more targeted quantitative easing and a need to boost demand in
stronger (or richer) economics including China, Japan and Germany
(Sun p12, Express p1/7, Mail p2, Times p1/12-13, Indie p2/31, Guardian p22-23, Telegraph b1/3, FT p9, Morning Star p1).
RBS insider joins Rock trail
- Talking of bailed out banks and the Times (p37) reports that one of
Sir Fred Goodwin’s lieutenants, Ian Allen, has been recruited by
Sir Richard Branson to assist with Virgin Money’s bid for Northern
Rock’s good bank.
UBS could make cuts – And
after the resignation of chief executive Oswald Grübel over the
weekend due to the rogue trader losses which are believed to be
close to $2.3 billion, the bank signalled that it may have to make
more job losses or could even be broken up. A internal
investigation into how the rogue trading happened is due within the
next fortnight (Express
p42, Mail p61, Times p37, Indie p35, Telegraph p, FT p1).
BAE hammer blow – The threat
of 3,000 job cuts at defence giant BAE Systems has been condemned
by Unite, national officer Ian Waddell said: “[This is]
a hammer blow to the UK defence industry, which is already reeling
with the crippling consequences of the government's ’buy off the
shelf‘ policy.” (Mirror p14, Sun p25, Express p19, Mail p61, Times p5, Guardian p24, Telegraph b3, FT p21, Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
DIY NHS? – And could more job
cuts be on the cards in hospitals as the Mirror (p1), Mail (p12) and Indie (p19) all report on
comments from Dr Peter Carter, the head of the Royal College of
Nursing, that relatives of patients should have greater involvement
in care helping to feed patients and even take them to the toilet.
Carter was forced to backtrack saying he was just saying there were
benefits fro families and friends to be involved rather than
expecting them to take on tasks that nurses have been trained and
paid to do.
RCN to join walkout? – Still
with the RCN and the Telegraph (p16) reports a special
meeting of the union’s leaders will decide this week whether to
hold a strike ballot over pension changes which could mark the
first walkout by nursing staff in the union’s 95 year history.
Public sector pension
confusion – The FT (p4)
highlights a report from pension consultants Hymans Robertson which
says that public sector staff have a ‘startling’ lack of
understanding of the government’s proposed changes to their
pensions. John Wright, the firm’s head of public sector pensions,
summed it up simply: “People do not understand the value of what
they have got, let alone what the reforms will mean.” meaning that
as contributions rise more people will opt out forcing the
government to pay more, yet another false economy from the Con-Dem
government which imposes change rather then consults on
solutions.
Progression pay under
pressure – The Telegraph (p10) has a small story
on progression pay with the Taxpayers’ Alliance complaining that
the public sector pay freeze is not happening as some public sector
workers gain a pay rise as they rise up grade due to length of
service. Judging by previous campaigns this is the first step in
the Con-Dem government testing out whether it can move on to the
attack.
Pay talks collapse sees workers walk
out – Packaging staff at Salford based API Holographics
walked out for 24 hours this morning after talks broke down in a
long running dispute over pay; workers have not seen a rise in pay
since 2007 while the company returned to profit last year (Morning Star p7, Unite
release).
Agency workers to get rights
– The FT (p3) reports that new
rights for agency workers come into force this Saturday as under
European law agency workers who have worked for a company for more
than 12 weeks will have the same basic employment rights as
permanent employees. Some employers have complained that they face
a rise in costs and fear more tribunals, but then as long as
employers treat their staff equally and fairly they should not have
a problem.
Osborne warned of welfare reform
disaster – The Telegraph (p1) reports that the
flagship reforms of the welfare system are in serious danger of
arriving late and billions of pounds over budget according to
treasury officials adding to concerns already raised by the
National Audit Office saying there are major risks to the plans.
The chair of the public accounts committee has also called the plan
“a train crash waiting to happen” but the Department for Work and
Pensions said it was confident it could deliver its side of the
system on time, believe it when you see it.
Angels given tax breaks – Tax
breaks designed to boost entrepreneurship are to be unveiled by
chancellor George Osborne today as he plans to offer income and
capital gains tax breaks, won’t work unless he can get the banks to
lend money to small businesses (Mail p61, Times p41, Indie p35, Guardian p23, Telegraph b2).
Chedds for kids – One small
business that has become big business is Dairy Crest whose chief
executive, Mark Allen, in interviewed in the Times (p43). He talks about
reasons behind rising sales and new product ranges targeting kids’
lunchboxes as his company’s products fly off supermarket
shelves.
Tesco cuts could condemn
farmers – And after the positive response to the retail
giant’s plans to slash £500 million for high street prices a few of
the papers note that farmers could be made to pay for the price
cuts as supermarkets once again put the squeeze on their suppliers
(Sun p16, Express p5, Mail p25, Times p40).
P&G reviewing structure –
And the FT (p19) reports the
world’s biggest consumer group by sales, Procter & Gamble, says
that even though it has thinned senior management by 10-15 per cent
it has further plans to restructure as it looks to further improve
profitability and deal with challenges facing consumers.
How to fix the economy – And
talking of restructuring the Mirror (p8-9) has polled 20 of the
UK’s biggest business brains about what they would do to tackle the
financial crisis facing the UK - shame they didn’t ask workers or
trade unions – and while some argue for a reduction in red tape,
many call for the government to cut VAT and offer support to local
UK businesses, a strategy being pushed by the shadow chancellor Ed
Balls who addressed conference today.
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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