News digest 6 August 2010
Tony Woodley warns of the dangers of a double dip recession,
there are lessons for Gove and Cameron should be sent back to
school out in industry easyJet’s flying high but there’s a reverse
in car sales, while wheat prices hit the headlines and Kraft
squeezes Cadbury, before its back to industry and an eerie silence
may hit the Albert Hall, read on to find out more…
Don’t play Russian roulette with the recovery –
Addressing leading local government activists at Unite’s London
headquarters joint general secretary Tony Woodley argues that the
rush to cut jobs and services shows a callous disregard for
ordinary working people and could put the economic well being of
the nation at risk: ”The first 100 days of this government has been
an assault on our communities, on fairness and it is not what the
people of this country voted for in May.” (Unite
press release, Morning Star, Indie)
Strike ban – And the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development argued that
ministers should consider banning strike action by workers in
essential services. It does go on to qualify this argument by
saying that there may need to be an improvement in management and
communication, but a TUC response sums it up: “The government would
do better to invest in jobs and growth rather than pay attention to
the CIPD’s unworkable proposals on industrial action.” (Telegraph b4)
Schools challenge – The
Guardian (p4) reports on
legal challenges being planned by local councils over the scrapping
of promised new schools after a delegation of councillors from
Sandwell met Gove yesterday. After a meeting they called
disappointing, and Gove was unable to answer questions about when
money may be made available or whether the pause in projects will
be permanent and schools left to crumble…
Lessons for Cameron – And
speaking of education, at a meet the public session Cameron was
berated over his gaffe on the UK being the junior party in the
fight against the Nazis, he apologised but then put his foot in it
by saying Iran had nuclear weapons, unless Cameron is planning on
some strange arms sales, they don’t. His office was forced to put
out a clarification later (Mirror p14).
Health cuts challenged – The
Times (p1) reports that
with more than 11,000 jobs having been cut in the NHS this year
Unison is threatening to take the government to a judicial review
over the pace of change, particularly as the proposals were not in
the Tory manifesto.
Transport trouble – On to
industries and the Telegraph (p1) reports that the
‘James Bond lifestyle’ of chief executive Iain Coucher of Network
Rail is to be investigated by chairman Rick Haythornthwaite, the
paper notes the Private Eye investigation that Coucher had a Coutts
World Card which allowed him to withdraw up to £100,000 in expenses
a day…
Up in the air – Even with the
ongoing boardroom battle easyJet had a good July seeing an eight
per cent rise in passengers to 5 million (Sun p54).
Car sales reverse – Many
papers report on the SMMT figures that show car sales dipped by
13.2 per cent last month with 20,700 new cars sold. The end of the
scrappage scheme had a role to play, as well as some economic
uncertainty. The Times
(p37) notes that for the first time diesel cars were in the
majority of sales, while the top three selling cars overall were
Ford’s Fiesta followed by Vauxhall’s Astra and Corsa.
Vauxhall vow – And GM has
announced that Vauxhall is to offer a lifetime warranty on all new
cars in a sign of the quality of its production line as well as a
way to boost market share. The deal applies to the first owner of a
car registered this month and expires after 100,000 miles.
Tough at
Toyota– And the FT (p17) has an interview with Toyota’s
(US-based) chief quality officer Steve St Angelo about the
challenges of dealing with the fallout from the sticky pedals
recall.
Dagenham depot – In advance
of the Olympics Tesco is in talks over plans to build a new
distribution depot in Dagenham which could create 900 jobs
(Sun p54).
Food riots – And as wheat
prices continue their upwards move, they have risen by 69 per cent
since June, the Indie
(p31) notes that the Russian export ban could fan inflation (in the
west) and even food riots (in developing countries).
Battery farm for
cows – But milk prices may be spared if a planned battery
farm for cows gets the go ahead. A new industrial dairy
in Lincolnshire - which will house 8,000 cows and produce
420,000 pints a day - has been proposed by Nocton Dairies (Mail p12-13).
Kraft squeezes Cadbury – On
the chocolate front as Kraft announces better than expected results
reporting a 13 per cent rise in earnings for the last quarter, it
also said it planned to squeeze more from Cadbury trying to gain
savings of $750 million rather than the $675 million originally
envisaged. Unite’s Jennie Formby said: "Unite members at Cadbury
will be extremely concerned to hear Kraft’s statement that it
expects to get even more savings out of Cadbury than it originally
envisaged. There have already been significant job losses …
and this statement implies there could be more to follow … we will
be asking the company to give us immediate assurances that no more
of Cadbury’s long-serving and loyal workforce will be forced to pay
the price of the takeover with their jobs." (FT p17, Unite comment)
Unilever unease – And
consumer products company Unilever says the outlook for business in
the US and Europe is poor meaning it can’t raise prices even though
it has faced a jump in commodity costs (Mail p80).
Insurance up – And consumers
also face a squeeze on homes and car insurance. Even with a 21 per
cent increase in profits Aviva says it will have to raise prices
over the coming months, most probably in double digit terms, as
there has been a sharp rise in claim costs (Guardian p27).
Engineering auction – Private
equity firm 3i is looking to sell its two largest German groups for
close to £800 million. It is preparing a float for joining products
maker Norma and also plans to offload gas and diesel engine maker
MWM (FT p13).
Wind winners – The victors in
the battle to deliver energy from offshore wind farms are
announced. Ofgem has named Balfour Beatty, Macquarie and
Transmission Capital Partners as the preferred bidders for
contracts worth some £700 million (Times p45).
Gold down the mines –
Business is looking bright as the Guardian (p25) reports that mining
giant Rio Tinto sees profits soar by 125 per cent, although this is
primarily due to greater demand in China, elsewhere things are not
so rosy.
Bye bye Barclays? – And as
Barclays announced an increase in profits of 44 per cent to £3.9
billion the Guardian (p27)
reports that the bank is considering the option of leaving the UK
amid calls to break up big banks to split investment banking and
high street banking.
Cut! – Finally as David
Miliband says he thinks the BBC should become a co-operative
(FT p3), and actors slam the
closure of the film council (Telegraph p23) strike action by
BBC staff could see the last night of the proms go silent as union
flags are swapped for union placards (Mirror p26)…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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