Published: 27 April 2023
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch told MPs on the Transport Committee yesterday that proposed legislation for enforcing minimum service levels for some service sectors when strike action is taking place would result in workers walking out without trade unions’ authorisation. “If we can’t use traditional industrial action, there will be novel forms of action, and there will be wildcat action, which is what happens in France, and Italy, and Spain and elsewhere,” Lynch said. “It’s gonna come back on the Conservatives’ heads I believe.” He was giving evidence alongside Mick Whelan, ASLEF General Secretary and Rob Jenks, TSSA’s policy officer, on the potential impacts of the Minimum Service Levels Bill, which is making its way through parliament. All three argued the so-called anti-strike bill was unsafe, with none agreeing to accept the legislation in any form. “We will never support minimum service level. It is undemocratic,” Lynch said. “It goes straight to peoples’ right to combine and to be democratic, and to have their freedoms expressed in a free democracy.” The rail union bosses also said the policy would result in a total breakdown in the relationship between unions and government.
The number of sick days taken by workers in Britain has reached a record high of 185m according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which attributes the rise to the “nagging” impact of covid-19. In 2019, the year before the virus spread, the volume of days lost to people being ill stood at 138.2m, so some 50m fewer than at present. Levels had previously been on a downward slope for around two decades. At 2.6%, the sickness rate, which calculates the proportion of working hours lost because of sickness, is now at its highest level since 2004.
The ONS also said yesterday that British workers clocked no improvement in the amount of goods and services they can produce per hour over the last year, as output in the three months to December last year was no different compared to the same period in 2021. The numbers indicate the UK’s long-running trend of sluggish productivity growth since the global financial crisis of 2008 is poised to carry on, it said.
Research from comparison website Uswitch.com has revealed energy supply companies are holding on to £6.7bn of customers' money because more than 16m households have amassed collective credit with their suppliers. More than 50% of them holding balances of more than £200 each, Uswitch said, adding that the number of households in credit has risen by 5m since April 2022. Its analysis also revealed the number of consumers in debt had fallen to 4m from 6m, and the total amount of debt owed had fallen to £920m from £1.2bn, with the average debt owed now standing at £234, up from £188 last year. Uswitch said a relatively mild winter weather and people rationing their energy usage had led to the increased credit. Last year, industry regulator Ofgem told suppliers to stop using customers "like an interest-free company credit card" and using their cash to fund their businesses, after a spate of high-profile collapses. Of just over 2,000 energy bill payers surveyed by Uswitch, just 14% said they intended to request money held by their energy supplier is returned to them although they are entitled to do this.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said yesterday it will block Activision Blizzard’s $69bn (£55.27bn) takeover by Microsoft as it would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, "leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come". The CMA statement added that it would "reinforce Microsoft's advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft". Martin Coleman, chair of the independent panel of experts conducting the investigation, said: "Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming and this deal would strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors… Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice. That is best achieved by allowing the current competitive dynamics in cloud gaming to continue to do their job." Microsoft engaged constructively with the CMA to try to address concerns, but ultimately their proposals were not effective to remedy its concerns, he said. Commenting to the BBC, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the CMA’s move was “bad for Britain” and has "severely shaken" people's confidence in UK tech. It is likely to “discourage innovation and investment in the UK,” he added, before saying: "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom". NASDAQ listed Activision Blizzard saw its shares end the day 11.45% down.
Barclays has benefitted from rising interest rates, seeing its first quarter income from consumers surge 47% as homeowners and credit card users pay more for their loans. The bank has just reported pre-tax profit of £2.6bn for January – March, above the average analyst forecast of £2.2bn, and higher than the £2.2bn it reported at the same time last year. Investment banking was more mixed, with income from the global markets trading business sliding 8% and fees from advising on corporate deals also down 7%.
e-commerce giant Amazon may be forced to recognise a British trade union for the first time, as GMB has now signed up roughly 700 staff at the US firm's Coventry site, more than half of all workers, and therefore the standard threshold for mandatory union recognition in a workplace. The GMB's Amanda Gearing said: "GMB members have been crystal clear since the start of their campaign; they will not accept a pay rise of pennies from one of the world's wealthiest corporations…After weeks of campaigning and 14 strike days, they've built the power of their union on site and are now in a position to file for recognition." Gearing said Amazon executives had refused to hold meaningful discussions and that the union had been forced to now drag the company to the negotiating table. Amazon now has ten days to respond and agree to voluntarily recognise the union. However, if this does not happen, GMB vowed to launch a statutory process through the Central Arbitration Committee.
Sainsbury's posted a fall in 2022/23 profits yesterday, reporting an underlying profit before tax of £690m, down 5% on last year. The supermarket attributed the decline to the annualisation of Covid-19 driven grocery volume and operating cost inflation, partially offset by operating cost savings and lower finance charges.
US credit card company Capital One is said by Sky News to have struck a deal to acquire British luxury concierge service Velocity Black, which was founded in 2014 and offers members priority access to upmarket events and experiences. City sources told Sky the deal had been agreed, but had yet to be publicly announced. One added that it could value the business at about $300m (£240.5m), although that valuation could not be confirmed yesterday. Velocity Black was set up by Zia Yusuf, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and Alex Macdonald.
Plans to cap what European footballers can earn have not gone down well. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin revealed earlier this week that talks had begun on introduce a cap to stabilise club finances and improve competition, and that “everybody agrees”. Apparently, this came as news to the Professional Footballers’ Association chief Maheta Molango, who insisted that there had been no consultation with players, who would not welcome the move and will “rightly be angry”. He Molango told the PA news agency: “Capping the wages of those who create the ‘product’ that others continue to benefit from is not a solution to ensuring better financial management by leagues and clubs. Football’s leaders are quickly going to create a real problem if they continue to treat players like this. They need to be treated as the game’s most important stakeholders and must be central to these conversations.”
Labour MP Liam Byrne has come under fresh pressure from City short seller Fraser Perring today after failing to cough up evidence for his suggestion Perring and his firm Viceroy Research were acting on behalf of the Russian state. City A.M. says a major war of words has erupted between the pair after Byrne claimed in a House of Commons debate that Perring was “not an infrequent visitor to Moscow” and said: “we must ensure that short-selling groups are not another weapon in Putin’s arsenal”. Byrne called for an investigation into the firm’s activities. The allegations have triggered a furious response from Perring, who has accused Byrne of abusing parliamentary privilege and demanded today that he retract the claims.
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