Fresh strike action is looming at British Airways (BA) after the Unite union has announced plans to ballot its 12,000 cabin crew members next week, unless the long-running dispute is resolved. So far, cabin crews have held 22 days of strikes after being involved in a long-running dispute with the airline over cost-cutting measures, which [...]
Telecoms giant BT could be faced with industrial action after the union which represents BT workers has confirmed that a strike ballot will go ahead. The ballot will open on 18 June with the result is due on 5 July. The vote for strike action, which would be the first in 25 years, comes as [...]
British Airways (BA) chief executive, Willie Walsh, has rejected a bonus worth £334,000. The news comes just one day after the final series of cabin crew strikes ended. This is the second consecutive year that Mr Walsh has turned down a bonus, and in its annual report, the company said no-one would receive a cash [...]
British Airways (BA) cabin crew will embark on a five-day strike today after eleventh-hour talks collapsed. Over the weekend, the Unite union’s joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, offered to cancel the latest strikes if travel perks for cabin crew were reinstated. However a spokesperson for BA said: “We have already offered to reinstate travel concessions [...]
On Monday night, it was announced that British Airways (BA) was successful in preventing the latest series of strikes by its cabin crew staff. Mr Justice McCombe of the High Court ruled in favour of the airline and said the decision was based on a technicality. However, the Unite union described the decision “an absolute [...]
Sir Richard Branson is calling for urgent intervention to avoid damage to the UK economy after some airports were closed again at the weekend, due to the return of the volcanic ash cloud. Airports across the country closed from 1:00pm yesterday after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) extended its no-fly zone due to the ash [...]
The Unite union has today announced cabin crew members at British Airways (BA) will strike for four separate five-day strikes in May and June. The further industrial action comes after Unite members rejected a fresh deal for cabin crew earlier this month. Unite said 81% of the cabin crew it represents voted against BA’s offer [...]
A deal designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt has been agreed over the weekend. It is also hoped the €110 billion (£95 billion) three-year rescue package will strengthen the single currency, which has been plummeting over recent months as a result of Greece’s debt crisis. The EU will provide €80 billion [...]
Workers at motoring group AA have voted in favour of going on strike in a row over pensions. The AA’s management wants to put a cap on annual rises in pensionable salaries, to raise employee contributions and also to cut the maximum annual increase in pensions paid. The final-salary scheme is already closed to new [...]
It has emerged this evening that rail workers will stage a four-day strike on April 6,7,8 and 9 amid a row over jobs and working practices. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) employed by Network Rail will strike between 6am and 10am and between 6pm [...]
The GMB trade union has today announced staff at British Gas have voted in favour of industrial action over claims of “macho management” and changes to staff terms and conditions. The union has given the UK’s largest energy retailer a week to respond before deciding its next move. GMB said over 61% of its 8,000 [...]
Talks aimed at averting industrial action at British Airways (BA) collapsed earlier this week and, as a result, Unit has today announced BA cabin crew members will strike for three days from March 20 and for four days from March 27. Last month, BA‘s 12,000 cabin crew members voted to take industrial action over cost-cutting [...]
Crisis-hit Greece has come to a standstill again today after workers staged the third general strike in as many weeks. The further strike comes after austerity measures to rescue Greece’s debt-stricken economy angered Greek trade unions. Greece is currently taking action to reduce its public deficit from 12% to 8% of GDP this year. The [...]
Up to 270,000 civil servants are to stage a 48-hour national strike today in a dispute over redundancy pay. The walkout involves job centre staff, tax workers, coastguards, border agency officials, courts staff and driving test examiners. If a satisfactory outcome is not reached then further strike action could take place later this month, according [...]
The Greek Government has today unveiled a new series of measures aimed at tackling the country’s debt problems, which has resulted in the euro recovering 0.3% to $1.3637. Growing fears over the debt crisis in Greece have weakened the value of the euro in recent weeks as Greece takes action to reduce its public deficit [...]
The Unite union has been unsuccessful in its High Court action against British Airways (BA) to stop the airline from imposing cost-cutting measures. The union claimed it was not properly consulted on the measures, which include a pay freeze and a switch to part-time working for 3,000 staff. BA cabin crew had been set to [...]
After the summit meeting in Brussels today, EU leaders have agreed to work with Greece to tackle its spiralling debts. Last week, the Greek Government announced tough austerity measures to tackle the country’s spiralling debt. The country’s runaway budget deficit is currently more than four times the EU limit of 3%. It currently has the [...]
British Airways (BA) has today reported a £50 million loss in the three months to December 31 2009, compared with the £122 million it lost in the same period a year earlier. However, the loss was much less than analysts’ predictions for a £151 million loss. Meanwhile, the airline posted a surprise £25 million operating [...]
The Unite union is in the High Court this week to resolve whether there should be a permanent injunction preventing British Airways (BA) from imposing cost-cutting measures. Unite previously applied for a High Court injunction to block BA’s plans, but it was unsuccessful . The airline wants 75% of its crew to accept a pay [...]
In a bid to prevent the 12-day strike planned by cabin crew over Christmas, British Airways (BA) is to take legal action to prevent what could cause misery for millions of passengers this festive season. The Unite union has called a walkout from December 22 to January 2 in a dispute over working conditions, jobs [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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