Business
University staff to vote on strikes over pay
Thousands of university staff are to be balloted for strikes in a dispute over pay.
The University and College Union (UCU) said 65,000 of its members working in universities across the UK will vote in the coming weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The union said employers had refused to increase a 1.4% pay offer.
The UCU said it has started preparations for an aggregated UK-wide ballot of its members, covering 138 institutions, which it expects to open on October 20.
It warned of co-ordinated industrial action with other unions representing university staff in the new year.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “University employers are now on notice that we will launch a UK-wide pay ballot with the potential for co-ordinated strike action that will cause maximum disruption on campus.
“Our members, not vice-chancellors, are the people who support students, create teaching materials, conduct world-leading research and keep universities running; we are the university.
“Employers now need to recognise that imposing a 1.4% pay award, when inflation is still soaring, is a significant real-terms pay cut and an insult to hard-working higher education staff.
“It’s time for them to come back to the table with an improved offer that will settle this dispute and avoid the need for a strike ballot and potential industrial action.”
Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), said: “Our sector and its students will be concerned about yet another trade union-generated ballot for industrial action.
“UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) took this decision over a week ago, informing their members and HE institutions today.
“EIS, GMB, Unite and Unison, will also be proceeding with statutory ballots for industrial action.
“It is palpably clear that the sector’s HE institutions cannot afford to improve the uplift.
“The sector is grappling with reduced income because of a decline in overseas students, increased costs for employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and an increase of over £370 million in employer National Insurance Contributions.
“UCEA has already begun to deliver on the other elements of our extensive final pay offer. This included progress on our proposals for joint work with the unions to further reduce pay gaps, and to promote good practice on contract types and workload.
“Employers take these issues extremely seriously. But they also take seriously the threat of industrial action and will have measures in place to mitigate the impact on students.”
A years-long succession battle within Rupert Murdoch’s conservative media empire has drawn to a close, with his son Lachlan set to control the news group.
The deal, which the family announced on Monday, will ensure the ongoing conservative leaning of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post even after 94-year-old Rupert’s death.
Under the agreement Lachlan will control a new trust while siblings Prue MacLeod, Elizabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch will cease being beneficiaries of any trust with shares in Fox or News Corp.
It follows years of tension between the media mogul and three of his children over the future of the family-owned newspapers and television networks.
The Murdoch family’s internal turmoil served as inspiration for the hit television drama Succession. The deal announced on Monday to end the real-life saga ends all litigation over the family’s trust.
Lachlan’s more politically moderate oldest siblings are poised to sell their holdings in Fox and News Corp in the coming months. They will also be named as beneficiaries of a new trust, which will receive cash from the sale of about 14.2 million shares of News Corp. and 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp.
The sale of their shares will add to the three siblings’ existing inheritance, but prevent them from having any influence over the political bent of the family’s media conglomerate.
Lachlan is currently the chair of News Corp, which counts The Wall Street Journal and The Times among its slew of publications. He is widely seen as the most politically conservative of Rupert’s oldest children.
“The leadership, vision and management by the company’s chair, Lachlan Murdoch, will continue to be important to guiding the company’s strategy and success,” News Corp said in a statement announcing the deal.
Andy WatsonBBC News, North East and Cumbria, Hendon, Sunderland
BBCA community shop on Wearside which runs a free second-hand school uniform scheme has moved into a larger premises to cope with a rise in demand.
Second Chance CIC in Hendon, Sunderland, collects donations of pre-worn items which are offered to those in need for no charge.
It has moved to a new premises on Toward Road after being “inundated” with parents asking for support.
Director Wendy English said it could give out “200 items a week” because families were unable to afford to buy a new uniform on top of bills and food.
“I had a family in the other week and they were struggling so much that they couldn’t even afford to eat – and they didn’t have their uniform in,” she said.
“They were struggling like mad so we made sure they got everything they needed.”
The group have also received thousands of pounds worth of grants from the Community Lottery Fund and Sunderland City Council, which has allowed it to buy new items of clothing.
Mrs English said: “This bigger store was exactly what we need as we simply couldn’t handle the number of clothes being donated at our previous one.
“But now being able to buy new clothes and not just rely on pre-warn donations is something we’ve not been able to do and it’s been so well received.”
Mrs English said on average 20 families use the service each day.
Julianna Atola went to Second Chance to get a uniform for her four-year-old daughter, who has just started school.
“It’s a big help,” she said. “Their second-use clothes is just as good as new but the difference is it’s no cost.”
Earlier this year, the Department for Education (DfE) announced it would change the law to limit the number of compulsory branded items required by schools to three, plus a branded tie for secondary students, in a bid to cut costs for families.
The government said it believed parents in England would save about £50 per child through its school uniform measures, which it hopes to introduce next September.
However, Mrs English said it was still “not enough”.
“They should just get rid of all branded items,” she said.
“I’m sure it would be a massive help to families.”
The FTSE 100 made steady progress on Monday, despite underperforming European peers, supported by gains in the price of gold and oil.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 13.23 points, 0.1%, at 9,221.14. The FTSE 250 ended 108.91 points higher, 0.5%, at 21,684.45 and the AIM All-Share finished up 4.10 points, 0.5%, at 769.73.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.9%, before a no-confidence vote which could see France’s Prime Minister Francois Bayrou step down, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed 0.9% higher.
In France, opposition parties across the board have made it clear they will vote against Mr Bayrou’s minority government, making it highly improbable that he will get enough backing to survive: he needs a majority of the 577 MPs in the National Assembly.
Mr Bayrou himself, who according to officials has invited his ministers for farewell drinks on Monday evening, appears to acknowledge that his time has run out.
In remarks on Sunday, he criticised political parties that he said “hate each other” and yet were joining forces “to bring down the government”.
In New York, at the time of the London equities market close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.
Gold jumped to 3,644.14 dollars an ounce against 3,589.49 dollars on Friday.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said gold’s gains are the “logical crescendo of a market where rate-cut wagers, political meddling and creeping stagflation fears are converging into a perfect tailwind for bullion”.
Mr Innes pointed out that gold has gained 9% in the past three weeks and nearly 40% in the year to date.
“The real rate profile is heading negative again, and gold thrives when bonds can’t keep pace with inflation,” he added.
But he noted there was more to gold’s gains than just “monetary arithmetic”.
“The political backdrop has turned gold into the ultimate protest asset. Trump’s tariff salvos have already juiced stagflation chatter, and his courtroom push to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook is cutting straight to the heart of central bank independence.
“Traders know this script – when faith in the Fed wobbles, gold becomes the one institution that doesn’t default, dilute or lie,” Mr Innes said.
The pound rose to 1.3545 dollars late on Monday afternoon in London, compared with 1.3527 dollars at the equities close on Friday.
The euro edged up to 1.1749 dollars, against 1.1743 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 147.60 yen compared with 146.94 yen.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.05%, narrowed from 4.07% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.71%, trimmed from 4.79%.
On the FTSE 100, Marks & Spencer rose 2.9% as Citi upgraded it to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
With the shares 18% below “pre-cyber levels, we see an attractive entry point for a business with good underlying momentum,” Citi said in a research note, noting April’s cyber attack.
The broker thinks the retailer is gaining share with younger customers in fashion, and seeing a larger mix of ‘bigger baskets’ in food.
Entain rose 1.2%, amid reports that it is looking to sell its Australian venues business, comprising market-leading pub poker provider Australian Poker League and a booming trivia arm.
The Australian Financial Review said the gambling operator, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, has issued preliminary sales documents to private equity firms with the goal of offloading a business it views as non-core.
Babcock International Group climbed 1.7%, after a well-received investor presentation on Friday.
The “Marine Investor Day gave us confidence that there is upside risk to the mid-single-digit growth guidance for the division and a clear pathway to the 9% (plus) margin”, said Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie.
But Phoenix Group fell 7.6%, after mixed first-half results.
The London-based retirement savings firm reported better-than-expected operating profit, but this was offset by a larger-than-forecast drop in IFRS shareholders’ equity – an area of investor focus for Phoenix.
Meanwhile, ingredients maker Treatt Group leapt 18%, after accepting a £156.6 million offer from Natara Global Ltd.
Natara makes “aroma ingredients” for the flavour and fragrance sectors. It is based in Hartlepool, England and is majority-owned by the UK and European private equity firm Exponent.
FTSE 100 index heavyweights BP rose 0.7% and Shell firmed 0.4% as the oil price climbed.
A barrel of Brent traded at 66.31 dollars late on Monday afternoon, up from 65.14 dollars on Friday.
The oil price rose after eight key members of the Opec+ alliance said on Sunday that they have decided to increase production by 137,000 barrels per day (bpd) from next month. Those countries had already increased production by 2.2 million bpd in recent months.
The energy alliance raised output by around 550,000 per day in both August and September this year.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Marks & Spencer, up 9.9 pence at 352.1p, Fresnillo, up 60.0p at 2,178.0p, Croda International, up 60.0p at 2,525.0p, Howden Joinery, up 19.0p at 855.5p and ICG, up 42.0p at 2,192.0p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Phoenix Group, down 51.0p at 619.0p, Diageo, down 74.5p at 1,959.5p, Airtel Africa, down 5.6p at 215.6p, Haleon, down 6.7p at 359.0p and Unilever, down 73.0p at 4,696.0p.
Tuesday’s local corporate calendar has full-year results from homewares retailer Dunelm and half-year results from transport operator Mobico and technology group Computacenter.
The global economic calendar on Tuesday has French industrial production data and the British Retail Consortium retail sales monitor.
Later in the week, US inflation figures and the ECB interest rate decision, both on Thursday, will be closely watched.
Contributed by Alliance News
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