Royal Mail caves in to the militants: Union wins £1,400 bonus, 7% rise and shorter hours

By
Becky Barrow
Last updated at 10:09 AM on 09th March 2010

Royal Mail last night bowed to union demands by offering workers a
‘gold-plated’ pay package which will give them more money - for less
work.
The generous deal involves a 7 per cent pay rise, a £1,400 bonus and increased maternity leave.
It is in stark contrast to the experience of millions of
private- sector workers crippled by pay freezes or pay cuts, redundancy
and forced to work part-time.
Bumper deal: Royal Mail postal workers are set to receive a 7 per cent pay rise over three years as well as further bonus paymentsThe deal follows three months of bitter negotiation with the militant Communication Workers’ Union.
Both sides yesterday insisted the deal was a ground-breaking move which will allow the company to modernise.

But it comes with an expensive price tag for a workforce which
last year caused misery for Britain with five months of strike chaos
and by failing to meet its first-class post delivery target. The deal was heavily criticised by the TaxPayers’ Alliance,
which labelled it ‘lunacy’ at a time when most private sector workers
were suffering pay cuts.
Long-running dispute: Strike action by Royal Mail postal workers led to targets for the delivery of first and second class letters being missedThe 170,000 Royal Mail workers will get a total pay rise of
nearly 7 per cent over the next three years. It will start with a 2 per
cent rise next month, followed by 1.4 per cent in April 2011 and a
further 3.5 per cent in April 2012. They will also get a bonus of £1,400 for agreeing to the deal in addition to other bonuses they already get.
They will be allowed to work one hour less each week, with a
typical working week cut to 39 hours, and their job security is also
unrivalled. In the past eight years, the company has cut 60,000 jobs
without forcing anybody to go.
The agreement includes a pledge to try to avoid making any
compulsory redundancies. Royal Mail has promised to keep ‘at least 75
per cent of workers as full-time’, and will not force any full-time
worker to work part-time, or vice versa, according to the union. Mark Wallace, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Given Royal
Mail’s severe financial problems, it is lunacy to pay staff more money
for less work. ‘It seems the Royal Mail have buckled in the face of aggressive strike action and pressure from the unions.
When you consider that most people in the private sector
couldn’t dream of getting a gold-plated deal like this in the next few
years, this is clearly an excessive settlement.’ Royal Mail workers will also enjoy a generous pay package for parents. Under the agreement, which is
called ‘Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond’, women on maternity
leave will be paid their full basic salary for 26 weeks, rather than
18. Fathers will also win, with the paternity package doubled from one
to two weeks, also on full basic pay.
‘Fair and good’: Adam Crozier says the deal will help Royal Mail get on with its ‘modernisation’On average, Royal Mail workers already enjoy a much better
deal than counterparts at rival companies. At UK Mail, workers get a
less generous pension, typically work a 40-hour week and get only
statutory maternity pay. Last night, Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke raised his fears about the cost of the deal.
He said: ‘The Government committed several months ago to an
injection of private capital and private sector management into the
business in order to resolve the pensions crisis and carry though the
change which is now needed. ‘What we have instead is a rather expensive-looking industrial
relations settlement with pay rises and a shorter working week which we
are told will buy the modernisation that is required. ‘It will be interesting to discover how much the taxpayer is paying for these promises.’
Negotiations between Royal Mail and the CWU became so bitter
that they were forced to hire an independent third-party - Roger Poole,
the former chairman of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission - to
mediate. Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier said: ‘This agreement
is good for the business as it allows Royal Mail to get on with its
modernisation. It is a good and fair deal for our people.’ CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: ‘It’s been a long
time coming, but this deal delivers on the major issues which postal
workers have fought for.’

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Toyota boss breaks silence over recall crisis

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Toyota is in a “moment of crisis” over the recall of eight million cars, the
president of the world’s largest carmaker said yesterday, finally addressing
a widely condemned refusal to break his silence on the issue.

The company also admitted that it knew as long ago as last summer that its
accelerator pedals were defective and had begun ordering their replacement
five months before telling the public that the components represented a
safety issue.

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GM’s Saab sale collapses as Swedish buyer pulls out

Reuters

Published: 7:06AM GMT 25 Nov 2009

GM
had been aiming to close a deal by the end of next month to sell Saab to a
partnership led by the Swedish luxury car builder Koenigsegg and backed by
China’s Beijing Automotive Industrial Holding (BAIC).

Koenigsegg, a tiny Swedish company that hand builds sports cars that sell for
$1m (£600,000), said it was pulling out of the deal because of the risk of
delays in closing five months after reaching a preliminary deal with GM.

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Inflation fears rise as input prices jump

Fears over inflation mounted as the price of manufacturers’ raw materials
jumped by 2.6 per cent in October, according to new figures from the Office
for National Statistics.

The larger-than-expected increase in so-called input prices was the biggest
since June last year, when they rose by 4.6 per cent. It was driven by
rising oil costs and the decline of the pound, which made the cost of
importing raw materials more expensive. Producer prices fell by 0.2 per cent
in September, after rising by 2.0 per cent in August.

Over the year to October, manufacturing input prices increased by 0.1 per
cent, after a 6.2 per cent decline in the year to September.

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Factory gate prices rise in September

Prices at the factory gate rose for the first time in five months in
September, with almost all sectors taking part in the unexpected rise,
according to official figures today.

The Office for National Statistics said that non seasonally adjusted output
prices rose 0.5 per cent in September.

It took the annual rate of inflation to 0.4 per cent, the first positive
reading since April. Prices registered a 0.3 per cent fall in August.

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House prices hit a 12-month high - but rises could soon grind to a halt

By
James Coney
Last updated at 12:47 AM on 03rd October 2009

House prices hit their highest level for a year after a remarkable five months of rises reversed a plunge in values.
The average home in September was worth 161,816 - just 19 higher than the same figure a year ago - according to statistics from Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society.
Back in February average prices had slumped to 147,746 and were crashing by 18 per cent year on year.
But since May prices have climbed steadily, increasing by 0.9 per cent in the past month.

On the mend: The average cost of a UK home rose by 0.9 per cent during September to 161,816Nationwide’s figures show that the average house price for
the past three months was 160,159 - a 3.7 per cent increase on the
average for the previous quarter. House prices rose in all regions between July and September. The South-West, South-East, North-West and London saw the biggest rises in values in this period.

However, economists were cautious about further rises. A report
by the Bank of England this week warned demand for mortgages,
especially among those moving home, was likely to fall sharply. And the reduction of the stamp duty holiday at the end of the
year - which will mean that buyers purchasing properties worth more
than 150,000 will have to pay tax - could also lead to property sales
slowing.Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: ‘Given that the housing market still faces
considerable headwinds in the form of high unemployment and restrictive
credit conditions and the impending withdrawal of the stamp duty
holiday, it would be surprising to see prices continuing to increase at
the very strong rate seen in recent months.’ On a local level, homeowners in Carlisle saw values rise by
more than 10,000 over a year, while those in Sheffield saw 7,000
added. But those with property in Leicester, Belfast, Oxford, Nottingham and Bradford saw up to 25,000 wiped off their investments.
Estate agents believe the rise in prices has been prompted by a surge in interest from potential house hunters.
But property experts believe a lack of house sellers and a shortage of cheap mortgages will soon stifle this.
Peter Bolton King, of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: ‘House hunters need access to mortgages.
‘Further evidence that the housing market is recovering should be welcomed. However, recovery is a fragile process and not guaranteed.’

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Why G20 is likely to be a damp squib

By James Quinn

Published: 8:22PM BST 19 Sep 2009

As cavalcade after cavalcade of black limousines clog the streets of central Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, passers-by and frustrated commuters might be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. With President Barack Obama waiting to greet the world’s leaders over dinner at the Phipps Conservatory, the spectacular glass dome set in the city’s Schenley Park, the limousines’ passengers will use the time spent in traffic jams to consider the likely outcome of the next 24 hours.
After months of anticipation following the last G20 meeting in London in April, there has been much debate as to how the world’s leading 20 industrialised nations – plus international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Union – will prevent the credit crisis and the deep recession that has followed from reoccurring.From blanket bans on bonuses to increasing capital requirements for banks, come Thursday evening, the time for grandstanding will be over and the time for diplomacy on a grand scale will have arrived.Many believe that time has long since passed.”Back in November, and in April, that’s when they seemed to be panicked into action,” Ruth Lea, economic adviser to Arbuthnot Banking Group, says of the previous two G20 summits, the first of which was held in Washington. “Now things have settled down, and most economies appear to be coming out of recession, I think the enthusiasm for reform has petered out. The mood is over for major reform.”It is a view shared by Michael Wainwright, financial services partner at Eversheds in London. Wainwright believes that ahead of the London summit “everyone was very scared about the future of the financial system.” Five months on, and it is “extremely difficult for [ordinary] people to engage with what’s going on.”To add to the problem, Wainwright points out that the G20 “from a legal point of view is a very odd organisation. It doesn’t have any constitutional powers, it’s just entirely based on the status of the people that turn up.”As a result, any outcomes will be entirely reliant on member countries carrying them out. “The only worthwhile action is going to be internationally co-ordinated,” Wainwright says. He fears a lack of concrete action could lead to regulatory arbitrage e_SEmD a situation where companies move to countries with lighter restrictions e_SEmD or protectionism.However, Wainwright is optimistic of some progress, hoping above all for an agreement on tightening banks‘ capital standards. Such a measure, combined with a commitment to enhanced global regulation and a reaffirmation of the need for co-ordinated fiscal stimulus, are the most likely outcomes of the diplomatic jamboree. Some of the more outlandish measures that have been proposed, such as a curb on bonuses, as suggested for by some EU leaders, seem increasingly unlikely.”There’s a lot more support on the European side for this,” says Tom Higgins, chief economist at asset manager Payden and Rygel.Higgins believes that the support for such a measure is waning – particularly from those countries such as the US and the UK where financial services contribute significantly to their economies. “It feels good to complain about corporate bonuses,” admits Professor David DeJong, who chairs the department of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, located in the heart of the former steel-town.”But the reality is that it’s very tough to dictate across boundaries; it’s tough enough for a government to dictate within its own country.”Of course, one of the problems of the G20 is that in spite of a general consensus that something must be done, there are 20 sets of opinions on the best way forward.Another issue high on the agenda will be world trade, particularly in light of the US’s recent decision to place a 35pc tariff on all tyres imported from China. “We don’t want to see that kind of behaviour at the current time,” says Higgins, who brands it “counterproductive” in terms of economic recovery. However, Higgins does not believe there will be any firm commitment to return to the negotiating table at the World Trade Organisation – to reconvene the Doha round, which began in November 2001 and stalled in July 2008 – as long as “questions about [the] sustainability” of the recovery remain.Another key factor influencing the summit’s outcome is where the various leaders are in their own political life-cycles. President Obama, with a strong mandate just nine months into a four-year term, is more likely to be cautious and not rush any major decisions. But for Gordon Brown, with up to nine months left in the parliamentary term and a strong opposition at his heels, the need to be seen to have some form of populist outcome is key. The same is true of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where the federal election will be held two days after the summit ends. In the end, the outcome is likely to be what one senior source close to the negotiations called a “watered down” version of all the countries’ hopes and intentions.”It really is likely to be a damp squib I’m afraid, because the moment has gone,” says Lea.

BSkyB ‘was willing to share sport and films’

Published: 12:01AM BST 18 Sep 2009

Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Mr Darroch said that, in
proposals to Ofcom in December 2007, the satellite broadcaster promised to
wholesale its premium channels on all secure rival platforms, despite its
preference for a self-retail model.

In return, the broadcaster asked Ofcom to give the go-ahead to Picnic, its now
rejected pay-TV service on digital terrestrial television.

Mr Darroch said BSkyB told Ofcom it would offer substantial discounts to any
third-party retailer that improved on the then level of penetration of Sky
premium channels on Virgin Media’s cable network.

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Brown accused of lying to parliament as secret papers reveal he’s been planning spending cuts of 10% for months

By
Nicola Boden
Last updated at 4:40 PM on 16th September 2009
Gordon Brown was today accused of lying for months about Labour’s plans for huge public spending cuts. Secret Treasury documents revealed the Government has been discussing massive cutbacks of almost 10 per cent since the Budget back in April.The confidential papers, obtained by the Tories, project reductions of almost 9.3 per cent in Whitehall for the four years after 2010.They released the figures this morning in a document entitled: ‘Labour’s 100 per cent lies about 10 per cent cuts from the mouth of Gordon Brown’. David Cameron claimed the Prime Minister had tried to ‘cover up’ the truth and ridiculed his sudden U-turn yesterday when he finally admitted cuts will be essential.For months, Mr Brown had refused to even utter the ‘c’ word and repeatedly insisted Labour would invest while the Tories would slash spending.
Under fire: Gordon Brown and wife Sarah with comedian Eddie Izzard in Downing Street this morning as he was accused of lying about spending cutsThe Tory leader said he had been open and honest about the need for cuts from the start, compared to the evasion and ’shiftiness’ of the Government. ‘Wednesday after Wednesday, the Prime Minister stood up in the House of Commons and repeated the line that the coming battle was between Labour investment on the one hand and Tory cuts on the other,’ he said. ‘All those words have turned to dust. As I consistently warned week after week, reality has now caught up with our Prime Minister.’ He stopped short of branding Mr Brown a liar but added: ‘What he has said is very clear. He has to explain himself. ‘It seems as if he was saying one thing in Parliament while his Government was planning to do something different. The words are there. The document is in your hands. He has to explain whether he was being straight with people or not.’

Dating from five months ago, the files also reveal plans to slash
capital expenditure which would affect schools, hospitals, roads and
other projects.And they predict public debt will soar
to a massive 63bn by 2013/14 - a figure higher than the education
budget.An inquiry into how they were leaked has already been ordered. Downing Street refused to comment on the specific 9.3 per cent figure but said there were several Government documents around containing ‘assumptions’.Asked directly about the allegation Mr Brown has lied, a spokesman said cryptically: ‘He has given the House of Commons the information that has been required in answer to questions.’He added: ‘The Prime Minister has been entirely consistent in what he has said about the spending review and the implications of the spending review. The Prime Minister would never mislead Parliament, clearly.’
On the offensive: David Cameron and George Osborne today
The Tory leader was branded ‘Mr 10 per cent’ by Mr Brown earlier this year after a Tory frontbencher let slip the party was preparing huge cuts in spending.The revelation that Labour has planned for the same level of cuts all along could be hugely damaging in the run up to next year’s general election. It risks blowing apart Mr Brown’s new stance, in which he has accepted cuts are necessary but insisted key services will be protected under Labour.Mr Cameron said: ‘Let me make it clear: they are not wrong to be
planning cuts but they are wrong to try to cover up their plans for
cuts. This is about honesty, it is about trust. This is about not
taking people for fools. And on this issue, as I have to say on so many
others, the Prime Minister does not seem to have learned.’Mr Brown yesterday claimed the Tories had been opposed to drastic action to shore up the economy during the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.But today, Mr Cameron insisted he was rewriting history and said talk of their opposition was ‘transparent nonsense’.They had always backed a well-targeted fiscal stimulus, he said, as he branded much of Labour’s measures to help homeowners and businesses a ‘quiet flop’. However, the Tory leader studiously avoided giving any commitments of his own about where the axe would fall should the Tories win power at the next election.
‘It’s about trust’: The Tory leader urged Mr Brown to ‘explain himself’He dodged questions about possible cuts to the defence budget, after shadow chancellor George Osborne hinted they would consider sweeping reductions.And he refused to say whether he would go further than the 9.3 per cent cuts outlined in the Treasury papers.Mr Cameron stressed he had already gone further than other opposition leaders in recent memory by categorically stating cuts will happen if he wins power.’I cannot remember an opposition leader ever being that candid and frank about what needs to be done,’ he said.The party has already outlined plans to scrap ID cards, limit red tape,
abolish quangos and slash the cost of politics by reducing the number
of MPs, he reminded.’That is a world away from the evasion and frankly shiftiness that we have had from the Government - the people who are meant to give a lead in difficult times, who have been playing politics and playing political games rather than squaring up to the British people and saying what needs to be done,’ he insisted.He ridiculed Labour’s suggestion that the Tories are ’salivating or excited’ about making cuts as ‘rubbish’ but declared it was the right move for the country. ‘There is no relish in doing this, but politics is about telling the
truth about the big decisions that need to be made and trying to take
the country with you. That’s what needs to be done. That’s what the Prime Minister needs to do,’ he said.
The issue of spending has become the central battleground between the parties as they vie for position ahead of an election next year.For months, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Chancellor Alistair Darling urged Mr Brown to ditch his stance of ‘Labour investment and Tory cuts’.But it was only yesterday that he finally did so - although he pacified the unions by stressing no action would be taken until after an election.His 35-minute speech to the TUC in Liverpool, which effectively launched the general election campaign, was devoted to insisting that overall cutbacks would be wrong. 
First a banana, now an ice cream: David Miliband picks up a snack from the van that followed comedian Eddie Izzard as he ran around the country
He sought to soothe his union critics by insisting the spending taps had to stay on despite record levels of national debt because the ‘road to recovery is still fragile’.The Prime Minister repeatedly claimed that Labour would protect frontline services and went into almost no detail about where future savings might be made. Mr Brown also hinted at a public sector pay squeeze by saying state workers would have to accept realistic settlements.But the only concrete example he gave was a 500million early retirement scheme for civil servants, which he said would be scrapped within three years. Mr Brown sought to paint Conservative money-saving plans as ‘callous and cold-hearted’, evoking memories of the mass unemployment of the 1980s. In turn, the Tories hailed his U-turn as an ‘historic capitulation’ and said Labour was ‘hoisting the white flag’ after months of refusing to face up to reality.

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Fears rally is over as shares tumble

By Edmund Conway

Published: 11:03PM BST 17 Aug 2009

With the dip coinciding with a fall in the pound and in oil prices, experts
speculated that this week could represent the beginning of the end for the
rally which has dominated the City this summer.

The FTSE’s fall was the largest since early July, and followed an earlier drop
of 0.9pc on Friday. The London markets started the week in negative after
Asian markets reacted badly to official figures showing that while Japan has
climbed out of recession, it had not rebounded as quickly as hoped and
remained plagued by deflation.

The MSCI index of shares in 23 of the world’s richest nations was 2.6pc lower
by late trading – its biggest fall in eight weeks, with the Chinese Shanghai
Composite Index down 5.8pc – the biggest one-day drop since November.

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