News digest 8 October 2010
The day starts with action on the buses in
Hackney as bus workers demand an end to the race to the bottom on
wages, there’s mixed messages about air carriers, a threat to green
jobs, a fall in house prices and Tories on the warpath against
children while Ed’s getting ready to announce his shadow cabinet
after Yvette Cooper topped the poll.
Off the buses - 185 bus
workers at CT Plus in Hackney are out on strike action in a dispute
over pay. The company has also been trying to break the strike by
offering a £270 bribe to cross the picket line. Unite regional
secretary Steve Hart calls on London mayor Boris Johnson to come to
the table and help negotiate a fair settlement (BBC, local news,
Unite
release).
Airport up for sale –
Macquarie puts it share of Newcastle airport on the market, 49 per
cent share estimated to be worth some £500 million, so far no news
on whether the group will see its 50 per cent share of Bristol
airport (FT p25).
Flying visit – Kraft chief
Irene Rosenfeld dropped in at Cadbury’s Bournville factory, held a
meeting with management, talked to a few workers, but as expected
would not meet with Unite reps at the plant, not a good way to keep
staff relations sweet, but at least no one threw (crème) eggs at
her (Times p61,
Telegraph b1).
Carriers concern – From
flying visits to ships as there are mixed message in the papers
regarding the £5 billion aircraft carriers. The FT (p2) and Telegraph (p1) say the work has
been saved as the cost of cancelling the contract is too high, but
the Guardian (p16)
cautions that Cameron is unconvinced of the need for two
vessels.
Hutton report analysed – Most
of the papers pick through the details although in the main it’s
summed up by the Guardian
(p11) headline of ‘pay more, retire later’ while the Mirror (p8-9) also adds ‘work
longer’ to the list. The Times (p12) highlights what
could be the long term impact saying skilled staff are likely to
leave while the Indie
(p12) raises the spectre of strike action.
Sellafield strike - A two-day
walkout by maintenance staff at Sellafield will go ahead next week
if bosses do not meet pay demands, while the GMB which also
represents workers at the site says 1,500 jobs may be at risk
(News
and Star, Times
p53, Indie p48,
Telegraph b3).
Green jobs gone – The
Guardian (p25) says that
spending cuts could cost up to 60,000 green jobs as port upgrades
could be cancelled. If the ports aren’t improved then Siemens and
GE are not expected to build new factories for offshore turbines in
the UK.
Quango cuts cancelled out –
And the Guardian (p1) also
reports that savings that come from closing 150 quangos are
cancelled out by the cost of the cutback as payments for
redundancies and rental contracts outweigh savings.
House prices fall – One cut
that some may appreciate as housing becomes a bit more affordable,
although 3.6 per cent fall will not cheer the nation of homeowners
as the latest Halifax house survey records its worst ever fall, did
someone mention double dip (all papers, Mail p20, Indie p41).
Olympic housing plans – Boris
unveils affordable housing plan for Olympic park, 40 per cent of
properties will be for families with three or four bedrooms, but
only 35 per cent has been reserved for affordable housing (Guardian p8).
No kids call – Talking of
families, and in the week that the Tories hammered child benefit,
culture secretary Jeremy Hunt provokes a storm by saying only have
children if you can afford them, as he banged the drum on the £500
benefit cap (Mail p1,
Indie p14).
Latest poll boosts Tories –
Still on the political front the Sun (p13) has a YouGov poll which
puts the Tories on 42 per cent, Labour on 38 per cent and the
Lib-Dems on 12 per cent, no odds on when Clegg will jump ship and
join the Tories, yet.
Shadow cabinet – And finally
congratulations to Yvette Cooper who topped the shadow cabinet
poll. She is expected to be offered the shadow chancellor’s job,
but will she defer to her husband, Ed Balls came third. Former
housing minister John Healey came second and is tipped for a top
job. Eight of the 19 are women although Diane Abbott missed out, as
did Ben Bradshaw, Shaun Woodward and Pat McFadden. Plus there is no
Welsh MP, but Peter Hain – who also missed out – may be co-opted
into the shadow cabinet. We should know how Ed Miliband will
shuffle the pack later on today (all papers, Times p1)
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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