News digest 3 November 2010
There’s a payout for a bullied worker in
the houses of parliament, before the Tories try to take advantage
of the tube strike, more strikes announced on the buses, but talks
at Coke, before cuts come back on the agenda - free school meals
for the poorest hit this time – and some mixed results in the City
before some sad news from Licensees Unite…
Parliamentary payout - Unite
parliamentary staff branch helps MP's staff member win £35,000
compensation claim for bullying and harassment by former MP
(epolitix).
Cameron’s personal snapper –
Still in parliament a new addition to the government payroll as
Cameron hires his personal snapper to make sure shots of him are in
the best possible light, getting harder by the day (Times p8).
Tory tube bonus – And also in
the Commons, expenses have been relaxed for today’s tube strike,
email sent round Tory MPs by party whip Michael Fabricant saying
they can claim £80 for taxis is reported in the Mirror (p11), he ended the email
with the words “enjoy” will they ever learn…
More CT strike dates
announced – Four more Friday strikes over pay announced as
Hackney bus drivers demand a fair share of company profits, the
fourth date is timed to coincide with the next wave of tube strikes
(Indie p8).
Stagecoach ticket sales up –
Company sees 6.5 per cent rise in its rail business (Times p48).
Eurotunnel trouble – £2
billion bid for Chunnel may go off the rails as transport secretary
Philip Hammond asks for further clarification from the four bidders
(Times p48).
Government urged to support Bombardier
and Hitachi– Transport secretary urged to
back Thameslink project and the Intercity Express Programme to
sustain UK train building (Unite
release).
Coke talks – After a series
of strikes Coca-Cola Enterprises held fresh talks with Unite
yesterday evening in a bid to resolve the ongoing pay dispute at
its Edmonton plant (Food
Manufacturer).
Growing food prices – Prices
rising at 4.4 per cent, fastest rate for 15 months, fuelling fears
for the overall inflation rate, while for those like sugar in their
tea may have to go without as prices have soared to a 30 year high
(Mail p6, Guardian p25, FT p33).
Free meals scrapped to pay for school
improvement scheme - Education secretary says raising
attainment is more important than Labour's plan to extend free
school meals (Guardian
p4).
More cuts coverage – A number
of the papers follow up on yesterday’s CIPD report which expects
the real cost of the cuts to be 1.6 million jobs in total,
yesterday the Treasury select committee attacked the report’s
findings, won’t be long before a Tory says it’s a price worth
paying… (Guardian p26,
Mirror p4, Morning Star p1).
Construction recovery cracks
- Activity in key sector eases more sharply than expected fuelling
fears of double dip (Times p50).
War on mickey mouse degrees –
As fees look set to hit £9,000 a year the Mail (p4) says Con-Dem government
also says it plans to weed out degrees with low prospects producing
a kite mark rating. The Guardian (p4) says that Clegg
could see as many as half of his backbenchers rebel against the
bill (FT p2).
LSE sabotaged – Not the
London School of Economics but the London stock exchange. The
FT (p1) reports that a stoppage in
the City is being treated as suspicious.
BP profits hit $1.8 billion –
Even with the $40 billion cost of the oil spill the company has
returned to profit, although the dividend will be lower than usual
(Express p64, Times p43, Indie p32).
Roll your own drives Imperial
Tobacco – Cigarette company sees a 10 per cent rise in
profits to $2.5 billion (Sun
p50, Mail p75, Guardian p24, FT p19).
Lloyds’ mixed results –
Lloyds’ latest trading update gets mixed coverage with the bank
expected to see profits of £3 billion this year, while the Times (p53) says it could be as
high as £4 billion, although the Mail (p73) says there are fears
of some toxic overseas loans that could undermine company profits
with the result - according to the FT (p2) - that its shares fell more than
two per cent.
Aviva plans £400 million more
cuts – Insurer looking at more disposals and job cuts,
although UK operations safe (Sun p50, p64 Express).
Royal Mail letters’ losses –
Company reports a slump in profits as the letters division records
a £66 million loss (Express
p8, Mail p17, Indie p34, Times p47, FT p4).
Talk Talk told off –
Telephone firm faces fine over phantom phone bills (Mirror p48, Sun p50, Times p52, Indie p38).
FBU – Why we have to strike –
The Guardian (p30) has
piece by a fire-fighter on why they are being forced to take action
and calls on proper negotiations rather than having the threat of
being sacked hanging over them.
Former pub union president
dies - David Hall, who was president of Licensees Unite
until last year, died unexpectedly of septicaemia while on a recent
family holiday in Spain. Jennie Formby said: “It is
always very sad to lose a friend and colleague, but at only 42 and
with a wife and daughter, David’s loss is a tragedy.”
(Publican)
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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