Category Archives: Business

Flight attendants threaten strikes over low pay and unpaid work

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Alaska Airlines, American and United could all be disrupted as air crew demand fairer share of vast profits

Major US airlines have recovered from Covid-19 pandemic losses and are amassing vast profits, but amid those record-setting financial performances flight attendants are threatening strikes and calling for substantial wage increases and improvements in working conditions.

The sums of money are huge. American Airlines reported record quarterly revenue in the second quarter of 2023 at $14.1bn, United Airlines reported record revenue in the same quarter at $14.2bn and a threefold increase in profit, and Alaska Airlines also reported record revenue in the second quarter of 2023 at $2.8bn.

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UAW strike: union to resume contract negotiations on Saturday – as it happened

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Plans to restart negotiations come after about 13,0000 workers walked out of three factories run by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis

As we wait for Joe Biden to deliver remarks on the UAW strikes, here is what industry experts and lawmakers are saying about the strikes, Reuters reports:

Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations says:

“It’s not a devastating hit to the communities. It’s not a devastating hit for the strike fund. It’s not a devastating hit on the balance sheet for any of the automakers but it starts to raise the stakes, which was the intent.

“I think they are making progress at the table ... the initial (automaker) offers were much lower, like 9% (wage) increases and now you’re up to 20% for increases. So that’s more than double. You’re seeing the UAW come down. You’re no longer hearing anything about the 32-hour work week from the UAW,” he added.

“This is more of a symbolic strike than an actual damaging one ... If the negotiations don’t go in a direction that [UAW President Shawn] Fain thinks is positive, we can fully expect a larger strike coming in a week or two.”

“If the strike lasts longer than three to four weeks, it will be moderately detrimental to GM and Ford’s EV strategy in 2024 ... While the Detroit stalwarts battle with the UAW, there’s a bottle of champagne that’s being iced at Tesla headquarters,” he says.

“I’m looking forward to joining our auto workers on the picket line this weekend. For the sake of Michigan’s economy and our working families, I hope this strike is short-lived ... I hope the UAW and the Big Three continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.”

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Auto workers strike after contract talks with US car giants fail

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United Auto Workers union unable to agree deal with Ford, GM and Stellantis, who have seen profits and executive pay soar

Auto workers have launched a series of strikes after their union failed to reach agreement with the US’s three largest manufacturers over a new contract, kicking off the most ambitious industrial labor action in decades.

The deadline for talks between Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) expired at midnight on Thursday, with the sides still far apart on the union’s new contract priorities.

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TikTok fined €345m for breaking EU data law on children’s accounts

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Irish data regulator says platform put 13- to 17-year-old users’ accounts on default public setting, among other breaches

TikTok has been fined €345m (£296m) for breaking EU data law in its handling of children’s accounts, including failing to shield underage users’ content from public view.

The Irish data watchdog, which regulates TikTok across the EU, said the Chinese-owned video app had committed multiple breaches of GDPR rules.

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Burney decries ‘unbelievably racist and bullying’ treatment in candid remarks to NSW premier – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Burney says Price’s comments ‘simply wrong’

Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney also described Jacinta Price’s comments as “simply wrong”.

It’s a real betrayal to the many families that have experienced things like Stolen Generations.

The idea that colonisation in any country ... doesn’t have long and far-reaching effects is simply wrong.

There are many people I’ve spoken to last night, this morning, that are very distressed and quite frankly, pretty disgusted. But I am going to focus on the goal here and that is a successful referendum.

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HS2 at risk of further cuts to route north of Birmingham amid budget squeeze

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Fresh uncertainty for high-speed line as leak suggests Sunak and Hunt have discussed cost implications of Manchester phase

The HS2 high-speed rail line is at risk of further cuts to its route north of Birmingham as the government considers whether it can afford high-cost projects in advance of the autumn budget.

The project has been mired in fresh uncertainty after the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to guarantee on Thursday it would run to Manchester, after publication of a photographed document suggesting further cuts were under discussion.

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EU moves to cut dependency on China for battery and solar panel materials

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Parliament votes to cut mining red tape and diversify its supplies of raw materials such as lithium and silicon

The EU has voted in a plan to secure more of the critical materials needed to make solar panels, electric car batteries and other key elements of its green transition.

The European parliament agreed on Thursday to diversify its supplies of critical raw materials and cut red tape for mining companies. In an attempt to reduce its dependency on China, it plans to ensure that by 2030 it does not rely on a single country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material.

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Sluggish eurozone economies will not welcome ECB’s interest rate rise

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Weak consumer spending as, people – especially in Germany, the EU’s largest economy – put more into savings

Interest rates went up again across the eurozone on Thursday – probably for the last time during this cycle of hikes that has become a familiar story in the single currency bloc, as it has in the UK and US.

The European Central Bank (ECB) raised its main deposit rate by a quarter of one per cent to 4% – the highest level in the euro’s history.

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Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

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French supermarket chain labels products that have shrunk in size but cost more before contract talks with suppliers

The French supermarket chain Carrefour has put labels on its shelves this week warning shoppers of “shrinkflation”, the phenomenon where manufacturers reduce pack sizes rather than increase prices.

It has slapped price warnings on products from Lindt chocolates to Lipton iced tea to pressure top consumer goods suppliers Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever to tackle the issue in advance of much-anticipated contract talks.

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Victorian government hired KPMG to consult on tobacco changes despite firm’s links to industry

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Exclusive: transparency advocates condemn arrangement as ‘appalling’ while health department refuses to say how much consultancy was paid

The Victorian government paid a consultancy firm that has spent decades working for big tobacco to lead the state’s consultation on changes to tobacco and vaping laws, before the process was abandoned.

The state’s health department has repeatedly declined to say how much KPMG was paid for the work this year and did not answer questions about whether the international firm’s long association with big tobacco and its ongoing work for the industry were declared.

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Integrity expert says officials should turn down Qantas Chairman’s Lounge memberships

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Memberships of the heads of the Reserve Bank and the Productivity Commission further evidence of airline’s soft power among political decision-makers

The incoming Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, and outgoing chair of the Productivity Commission, Michael Brennan, are members of Qantas’s high-end Chairman’s Lounge – an invitation-only perk a top public integrity expert says officials should turn down.

The memberships, contained in the gifts and benefits registers of the agencies, show how the airline has used its soft diplomacy to build relationships in Australia’s most important institutions, including the competition and corporate regulators and aviation safety authority.

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Politics live: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she does not believe legacy of colonisation continues to impact Indigenous Australians

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Shadow Indigenous affairs minister last spoke at forum alongside Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman in 2016. Follow live news updates today

We’ll be hearing from Michael Long and the Long walkers very soon.

In other news ahead of us, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will give an address to the national press club and then she is down for an event with the Australian newspaper later this afternoon.

[It’s an issue that’s been identified across international media and domestically, but we need to make sure that there are absolutely no loopholes or ability for people to think that they can operate contrary to Australia’s national interest.

And so we’re making sure that our laws clearly identify and make it clear to any veteran to any firm former service personnel to public servants that have worked in defence that we take the integrity of our information, our national security information and training very seriously, and that we are going to properly regulate any work that they do for a foreign military or companies associated with them so that we’re protecting our national interest.

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Brazilian Indigenous group expresses solidarity with voice yes campaign amid fight with BHP

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Brazilian Indigenous leaders who are fighting a class action suit against BHP over a tailings dam collapse say they face similar struggles to First Nations Australians

A group of First Nations Brazilians taking on the mining company BHP say a voice to parliament will give Indigenous Australians a critical avenue they were not afforded – the chance to consult.

The delegation is visiting Australia to meet with politicians this week amid their multibillion-dollar class action suit against the Australian mining firm over its role in the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in 2015.

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Australian economy adds 65,000 jobs in August, raising prospect of further rate hikes

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Unemployment rate remains steady at 3.7% in a sign that the economy could avoid a hard landing as impact of 12 interest rate rises is felt by households

Employers hired almost 65,000 more workers in August, many more than expected, improving the prospects that the economy will avoid a hard landing but also raising the possibility the Reserve Bank may hike interest rates again.

The unemployment rate last month was 3.7%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Economists had forecast the economy would add 25,000 jobs in August, which would have left the jobless rate at July’s reported level of 3.7%.

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New £1bn government upgrade to plug Great Britain’s draughtiest homes

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Households could save £400 a year on energy bills via means-tested insulation scheme

Households could save up to £400 a year on energy bills under a new means-tested scheme to insulate more than 300,000 of Great Britain’s draughtiest homes.

The government is spending £1bn on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands.

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US inflation in August rose to 3.7% amid sharp increase in energy prices

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Growth in prices still remains far below the decades-high inflation rates that were seen last summer, when rate peaked at 9.1% in June

US inflation in August rose for the first time since June 2022, rising to 3.7% as a sharp increase in energy prices pushed prices up toward the end of the summer.

Growth in prices still remains far below the decades-high inflation rates that were seen last summer, when the rate peaked at 9.1% in June. Still, an increase in inflation means the US economy is further from the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2% and will likely make officials consider pushing interest rates up later this year.

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Unity seeks to clarify new game engine charges amid outrage from developers

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Games creators attack the fees, due for implementation in 2024, as company executive dials back on initial plan

Tech company Unity has sought to clarify its decision to charge a controversial new fee to game developers. A blogpost on its official site last night announced the company would be introducing a “runtime fee”, which would require developers to pay a fixed sum each time a game built using the Unity Engine was installed by a player.

Unity stipulated that the fee would only be chargeable after a game made $200,000 (£160,000) in 12 months and had at least 200,000 lifetime game installs, but developers nevertheless vented outrage on social media.

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Boris Johnson made to ‘look like a chump’ as ex-aide shuns Tories in Lords

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Dan Rosenfield decides to sit as independent after being nominated by former PM in resignation honours list

Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield has decided not to sit on the Conservative benches following his elevation to the Lords in a move that has outraged some Tories, with one saying it made the former prime minister “look like a chump”.

Rosenfield, a former Treasury official, was one of several ex-aides nominated in June for peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list.

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Calls for Starbucks boycott grow amid aggressive union-busting activities

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Boycott would aim to use consumer power to pressure company to negotiate its first union contract

Calls for a consumer boycott of Starbucks are growing amid mounting criticism of the coffee chain’s aggressive union-busting activities.

A boycott, supporters say, would aim to use consumer power to pressure Starbucks to stop its union-busting and illegal actions and to finally negotiate its first union contract.

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Women’s World Cup fuelled uptick in Australian household spending last month, CommBank data shows

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Increase in nominal spending contrasts with other recent surveys showing consumer confidence was languishing at depressed levels

Spending on the Fifa Women’s World Cup and a jump in education, insurance and petrol outlays nudged national spending higher last month, according to CommBank data capturing the spending of about 7m households.

The household spending insights index picked up 0.7% to 137 in August. Compared with a year earlier, the index was up 2.3%, improving from the 1.9% annual rise in July.

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