Unite union says its members overwhelmingly backed settlement on new pay deal and travel concessions The British Airways cabin crew dispute ended on Tuesday when staff accepted a peace deal after 18 months of conflict. The Unite union said its members voted 92% in favour of what it described as an “honourable settlement”, with 8% against in a turnout of 72%. Just under 10,000 cabin crew were balloted. The union recommended the deal, which it said would see travel concessions returned to the BA crew who had the facility removed when they went on strike last year. Agreements have also been made on a new pay deal, and on safeguarding routes and working arrangements as the carrier introduces a new fleet of crew. There will also be a third-party binding arbitration process established to consider the cases of staff disciplined by the airline during the dispute. Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, who drew up the deal with BA’s chief executive, Keith Williams, said: “Unite always firmly believed this dispute would be solved not through conflict but through negotiation. Thankfully we have reached an honourable agreement with BA. The overwhelming acceptance of this deal by cabin crew means that both parties can now move forward together on securing a bright future for the airline. “I want to pay personal tribute to the cabin crew for the principled stand they took. In these difficult times it takes courage to stand up for what you believe, but thousands of crew did so, at great personal expense and emotional cost … I hope it sends a message to employers everywhere that working with your workforce is the only way to secure productive change.” Thousands of staff took part in 22 days of strikes last year, which cost BA £150m, although the airline said it had made savings as a result of the long-term structural changes now in place with its crews. The changes made to the number of cabin crew on BA flights had given the airline an annual saving of £60m, said the firm. The two sides were locked in one of the longest disputes in the UK for years after cost-cutting moves taken by the airline. The conflict spread to other areas after BA withdrew travel concessions from Unite members who went on strike, and took disciplinary action against a number of staff. A BA spokesman said: “The skills and professionalism of British Airways cabin crew are second to none, and we are delighted this dispute is behind us. We have made permanent structural savings to our business, which is now ready to invest £5.5bn over the next five years for the benefit of our customers.” British Airways Airline industry Travel & leisure Unite Trade unions guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …World’s wealthiest people now richer than before the credit crunch, says study
June 22, 2011 No Comment
World Wealth Report reveals soaring numbers of rich individuals in Asia Pacific region – but slower growth in Britain • Read the full report here The world’s wealthiest people were richer last year than they were before the 2008 banking crisis. There were also more of them in 2010 – 10.9m – than there were before the recession struck, according to a new report. But in the UK these so-called high net worth individuals (HNWIs) – people who have more than $1m (£620,000) of free cash – have not enjoyed a return to pre-crisis levels of wealth as sluggish economic growth holds back their prospects. According to the annual world wealth report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, the wealth of HNWIs around the world reached $42.7tn in 2010, rising by 9.7% and surpassing the peak of $40.7tn reached in 2007. The report also measures a category of ultra-high net worth individuals – essentially those with $30m to invest. This class of wealthy people rose by 10% to 103,000, while the value of their investments jumped by 11.5%. The performance of investments made by wealthy individuals in shares and commodities helped drive their wealth, which in turn fuelled “passion” purchases of luxuries such as such as Ferraris, diamonds, Chinese art and fine wines, particularly by the growing number of wealthy individuals in the emerging markets. North America is home to the highest number of rich people – some 3.4 million – but for the first time the Asia-Pacific region, with 3.3 million HNWIs, now has the second largest number, overtaking Europe. European’s wealth rose 7.2% to $10.2tn while Asia Pacific gained 12.1% to $10.8tn. The wealth of the richest people in the Asia Pacific region is now up 14.1% since 2007, although individuals in North America and Europe are yet to recoup the losses they suffered during the banking crisis. The growth in the number of rich individuals in the UK was among the slowest among the top 10 nations, showing a 1.4% rise to 454,000 and remaining below the 495,000 recorded in 2007. The report said that while the UK stock market rose almost 30% and GDP grew 1.3% – after contracting 4.9% in 2009 – the fortunes of the rich were held back by falling house prices and the rise in unemployment. Their prospects might improve next year, however. “Construction spending for the 2012 London Olympics is expected to help propel the economy and the housing market recovery,” the report said. Adam Horowitz, head of UK, Ireland and Israel at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, said that the overall improvement in wealth in 2010 was because of the rise in the value of investments. “Global capital markets and major asset classes performed well over the year on the back of rising investor risk appetite,” he said. “The shift toward equities in 2010 by HNWI investors reflected the search for returns and the desire to recoup more crisis-related losses. We also saw HNWIs continue to favour specific asset classes, such as equities and commodities, based on market opportunity or long-standing preferences.” The 1.4% rise in the number of rich people in the UK compares with a 7.2% rise in Germany and 8.3% in the US – where there are 3.1m HNWIs – and the 3.4% rise in France. India moved into the top 12, with a 20.8% rise to 153,000, for the first time, while Italy, 10th in the table, endured a contraction in the number of wealthy people from 190,000 to 170,000. Rich lists United States India China Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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British designer emerges for one-day trial to face charges that he publicly made antisemitic comments in a Paris cafe Former Dior designer John Galliano has gone on trial charged with hurling antisemitic slurs in a Paris cafe, allegations that shocked the fashion world and cost him his job at the French high-fashion house. The outspoken British designer emerged for the one-day trial after spending months staying out of the public eye. In a conservative look for him, Galliano was dressed in black with a polka dot neckerchief, sporting a pencil moustache and long hair. Galliano is charged with “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” and could face up to six months in prison and €22,500 in fines. The verdict is expected at a later date. The famed designer was escorted to a front-row seat in the wood-panelled, gilded courtroom at the Justice Palace, sitting next to an interpreter as he faced the three judges presiding over his fate. Journalists, including fashion writers, packed the wooden benches in the courtroom, which features a high ceiling painted with a woman holding the scales of justice. Television cameras were not allowed in the courtroom but trailed the designer as he went inside. A couple contends that Galliano made antisemitic comments to them in the cafe in February. Galliano was taken in by police for questioning, and a test showed he was drunk at the time. Another woman then came forward with similar claims about another incident in the same cafe last October. Both accusations were being addressed at Wednesday’s trial. Days after the February bar incident, a video was broadcast on the website of the Sun showing an inebriated Galliano insulting a fellow cafe client, slurring “I love Hitler”. His lawyer, Aurelien Hamelle told The Associated Press this week that the designer’s comments were “misplaced and hurtful” but attributed them to Galliano’s addition to alcohol and prescription drugs. Galliano issued a statement at the time saying: “Antisemitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.” He also said he was “seeking help” for personal failures, spending two months in rehab in the US. The lawyer said he will call witnesses at the cafe during both incidents who say they did not hear any insults by Galliano. Any conviction could depend on whether the court determines that the insults were made publicly or not. French law prohibits public insults toward others because of their origins, race or religion. The February cafe incident and the video reverberated throughout the fashion world because they emerged on the eve of Paris Fashion Week. Dior fired Galliano after 14 years with the company and denounced his comments. After joining the company in 1996, Galliano made an indelible mark on the storied house, with theatrical, often outrageous, runway shows that were among the most-anticipated displays on the Paris fashion calendar. The trial is being held on the opening day of another round of Paris fashion shows, the menswear spring-summer 2012 collection. John Galliano France Race issues guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Liberal Salon.com Writer to Jon Stewart: Drop Your ‘Trite’ ‘I Am a Comedian First’ BS
June 22, 2011 No CommentIt's not just conservatives who are sick and tired of Jon Stewart hiding behind his “I'm a comedian” excuse when called out for his dead-serious liberal pontifications. Even liberals like Salon.com's Will Bunch are tired of the “Daily Show” host's faux sanctimony, even as he cheers Stewart's liberalism and calls on the comedian to embrace it. From a June 21 War Room blog post (emphases mine): [O]utside of “The Daily Show,” in interviews like the one he gave to Chris Wallace and even his famous 2004 confrontation that may or may not have killed CNN's “Crossfire,” I find that Stewart (and it pains me to say this, as such a fan) can come across as kind of lame, his “media criticism” beyond trite. In interviews, his complaints against the media tend to be an unsophisticated “pox on all of your houses.” I thought his largely pointless D.C. mall rally in late October repeated the mistake he makes in these interviews — trying to argue that our discourse is too loud while ignoring the real point that he hammers home on “The Daily Show,” that our politics is irrational.
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Police say loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force set off two nights of rioting in which press photographer was shot in leg Dissident republicans were responsible for the gunshots that wounded a press photographer during rioting in Belfast, police said. The Press Association photographer was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital with an injury to his right leg following the burst of three shots. He is said to be in a stable condition. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bottles and bricks were among items thrown at police during a second night of the worst violence in east Belfast for many years. A police spokeswoman said: “Police can confirm that dissident republicans were responsible for the shots that were fired during last night’s disorder in east Belfast.” Dissident republicans have been responsible for a string of attacks on members of the police and army. In April they killed Constable Ronan Kerr, 25, in car bombing outside his home in Omagh, County Tyrone. There have been pitched battles between loyalists and republicans in the Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand areas during the past two days. The police were targeted after they came between the two sides. The Ulster Volunteer Force has been blamed by senior police for igniting trouble after a second night of serious rioting in Belfast. Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the loyalist paramilitary group started the violence. Finlay said: “The UVF in east Belfast started this – there was no sense of anyone trying to finish that. Their hands are upon this, whether by direction, by omission or commission.” A 20-year-old woman was arrested on a weapons charge during the rioting, which saw youths smashing police vehicles with sledgehammers and hurling petrol bombs. A water cannon vehicle sustained a cracked windscreen and there were marks from live fire. Finlay said the attacks were less orchestrated than the previous night, when two people were injured by gunfire. He refused to say whether the shots were fired from the nationalist Short Strand or the loyalist Newtownards Road but called for dialogue to discuss all issues behind the violence. “Last night again we witnessed serious, sustained violence. Over two nights we have seen three people shot and injured, communities wrecked, houses and businesses damaged, lives put at serious risk. “This has got to stop, it is a time for cool heads, for people to take a step back.” Northern Ireland guardian.co.uk
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Union gathering hears appeals for co-ordinated walkouts in first week of October if talks to reform public sector pensions collapse David Cameron faces the threat of industrial action during the Conservative party conference after members of Britain’s largest public sector union called for strikes over proposed pension changes. Delegates at Unison’s annual conference heard appeals for co-ordinated walkouts in the first week of October if talks to reform public sector pensions collapse. Amid defiant warnings that state employees will not be railroaded into changes, one council employee at the Manchester conference urged workers to stage walkouts when Cameron comes to the city for his party’s conference on 2 October. “On 2 October, we should come back to this city, and when Cameron and George Osborne get up to speak they should be met with resistance,” John McLoughlin, a Unison delegate from Tower Hamlets council, in London, said. “Wouldn’t it be better if, in that week as well, they know they are going to face the largest wave of strike action in the public sector that this country has ever seen.” Unison delegates are expected to back a motion that will give the union’s leader, Dave Prentis, the power to launch a strike ballot if the pensions talks fail. Unison represents more than 1 million public sector workers – about one-sixth of the UK total. Those discussions are due to end on Monday, and the talks process was jolted last week when the chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, sparked a union backlash by unilaterally announcing a deal including plans to increase contributions for public sector workers and raise their pension age to 66 by 2020. Jane Carolan, a member of Unison’s executive, attacked Alexander in a speech that was greeted with loud applause by 2,000 delegates. “There are lies, damned lies and the inventions of the ginger Tory poodle,” she said. “We have to be prepared to fight. A strike would be nationally co-ordinated, smart and potentially prolonged.” Prentis, who is leading the union delegation in the government talks, warned of industrial action on an unprecedented scale if ministers pushed through changes such as raising the retirement age without agreement. “This is our union’s call to arms,” he said. “When you get back to your branches, prepare for action.” Adding to recent rhetoric on historic industrial battles, Tony Phillips, a member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning service, said: “This won’t be the miners’ strike. This won’t be the general strike of 1926. This time, we are going to win.” The Unison motion calls on the union’s leadership to “build unity across Unison and with other unions to oppose current and proposed detrimental changes to pension rights and, acting within Unison rules and the law, to support service groups and sectors seeking to co-ordinate official national industrial action in defence of pensions”. Building a cross-union consensus on walkouts in the autumn will pose significant logistical challenges for Unison and its peers, because trade union legislation requires pinpoint information on voting data including the number of employees who voted and the departments in which they are employed. Unison and other unions have been scouring their membership databases for months in preparation for a major vote. . Trade unions David Cameron Conservatives Danny Alexander Liberal-Conservative coalition Public sector pensions Public services policy guardian.co.uk
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Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, 29, expected to return home after being held by security services since US raid on compound Osama bin Laden’s youngest wife is expected to leave Pakistan for her homeland, Yemen, within days. Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, 29, has been held by security services since US special forces killed Bin Laden, whom she married in 1999. Sadah was wounded in the operation and detained by Pakistani authorities in the compound in the northern garrison town of Abbottabad where her husband was hiding. She is believed to have been questioned by US intelligence services . Reports in newspapers in the Yemen and Saudi Arabia, confirmed by officials in Riyadh, indicate that arrangements have been finalised between Yemeni and Pakistani diplomats for the return of Sadah and her 12-year-old daughter, Safiya, who was also injured in the raid. Bin Laden’s third and fourth wives were also found at the compound by Pakistani authorities after the US operation. Both were born in Bin Laden’s home town of Jeddah, on the southern Red Sea coast, and are Saudi citizens. The oldest, Khairiah Sabar, married the former Taliban leader in 1985. The third wife held by the Pakistanis, Siham Sabar, was married in 1987. Both women are college graduates. Officials in Riyadh told the Guardian that, at least theoretically, there was no objection to their return to Saudi Arabia. Their husband was stripped of his Saudi Arabian citizenship in 1994 after he turned against the rulers of the kingdom, which he eventually fled, after the first Gulf war. Hamza, a 22-year-old son of Bin Laden, who was 57 when he died, was killed in the raid. The bodies of both men were buried at sea. The women and about 10 of Bin Laden’s children and grandchildren were handcuffed by special forces who then left. Sadah’s brother, Zakria al-Sadah, told the Yemen Times this week that Yemeni diplomats in Pakistan had told him his sister would ” arrive in the coming days ” after the completion of legal formalities. Negotiations over the exact arrangements for the journey had been long and complicated, the newspaper said. Sadah’s family has repeatedly called for her repatriation. Shortly after Bin Laden’s death they spoke to a reporter from the Associated Press news agency in their home in Ibb, an agricultural town in the mountains about 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. They said they had seen Sadah only once since her wedding in 2000, when she was 17. Since then, communication was largely limited to messages delivered by couriers. Sadah fled from Afghanistan with her daughter in the months after the September 11 attacks and is believed to have told investigators she had spent five years in the compound in Pakistan without leaving the gates. Their location in the intervening period is unknown. Bin Laden’s two other wives – two earlier marriages ended in divorce – fled the al-Qaida leader’s base near Kandahar in late 2011 and were driven by a trusted associate into Pakistan, according to interrogation files from Guantánamo recently released by WikiLeaks and published by the Guardian. Sadah, whose father is a minor civil servant, had told her friends and family she wanted to “go down in history” , according to her cousin Waleed Hashem Abdel-Fatah al-Sadah. Weeks after the proposal, a dowry of $5,000 (£3,000) was wired by Bin Laden and, accompanied by an intermediary, Sadah travelled through Dubai and Pakistan to Afghanistan to meet her bridegroom for the first time. When the family learned through a courier that she had given birth to a daughter, a group of relatives travelled to Afghanistan, where they spent a month. On the final day of the visit, a cousin recalled Bin Laden telling the young mother she could stay with him in Afghanistan or return home with her family. “I want to be martyred with you and I won’t leave as long as you’re alive,” he recalled her saying. Osama bin Laden Yemen Pakistan United States Global terrorism Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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Military court finds eight campaigners guilty of plotting coup during protests in Sunni-ruled kingdom Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year. Another 13 demonstrators were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised. Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime. Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrain human rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran. The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base. “Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders . As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present. The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest. Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Human rights Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Military court finds eight campaigners guilty of plotting coup during protests in Sunni-ruled kingdom Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year. Another 13 demonstrators were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised. Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime. Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrain human rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran. The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base. “Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders . As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present. The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest. Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Human rights Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a crucial vote of confidence on Tuesday night but he still needs to push new spending cuts through parliament The head of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond trader, has warned that Greece is still likely to default on its debts, despite prime minister George Papandreou winning a crucial vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, ratcheted up the pressure on Europe’s leaders by predicting that other eurozone members could also follow Greece into default territory. “For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” El-Erian told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday via a video conference, according to Reuters. The warning came as shares slid across Europe, as attention shifted to Papandreou’s next challenge – persuading the Greek parliament to approve a new package of asset sales and spending cuts next week. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 20 points in early trading and the euro also sagged, as experts warned that Papandreou’s narrow victory did little to address the wider eurozone crisis. Papandreou won Tuesday’s vote of confidence by 155 votes to 143, with every member of the governing socialist party supporting him. “The result shows that Papandreou has the backing of his party. We now expect that the unity shown last night will be repeated in next week’s austerity vote,” said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index. Raymond added that Wednesday’s lacklustre market reaction was understandable, after traders pushed the FTSE 100 up by 1.5% on Tuesday amid optimism that Papandreou would survive. Greece must approve Papandreou’s austerity plan next week to qualify for an immediate €12bn (£10bn) lifeline, and then a second bailout worth over €100bn. There is doubt, though, over whether the measures can be imposed on an increasingly unhappy population . “Everything depends on Greece implementing the measures,” Lord Brittan, the former vice president of the European Commission, told the BBC’s Today Programme. “Legislating is one thing, implementing is another, and Greece’s history of implementation is not a happy one,” Brittan added. Jane Foley of Rabobank International agreed, saying there was “widespread scepticism” in the bond markets about the ability of the Greek political system to implement the reform. Crowds gathered outside the Greek parliament ahead of the vote of confidence, with some shouting “we give a vote of no confidence” at the lawmakers gathered inside. There were some clashes between protestors and riot police, who reportedly deployed tear gas at one point. European debt crisis Greece Europe Europe Bonds Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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