The Socialist 14 January 2009 Stop Israeli state terror British economy heads deeper into crisis Building ISR and Socialist Students in 2009 Fight for your future: what ISR campaigns for Defend threatened Saudi Arabian trade unionist Wirral: Marching to stop the cuts The NHS today - can it meet everyone's health needs? Conference: 'The crisis in working class political representation' GlaxoSmithKline: The fightback starts here Tube cleaners protest against victimisation Sri Lanka -: Vicious attacks on media and killing of newspaper editor Bangladesh: Protesters denounce global mining corporation Why Manchester rejected the congestion charge |
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Home | The Socialist 14 January 2009 | Join the Socialist Party Fast NewsLovingly sacked...THE FINEST writing paper, using only the finest ink, lovingly folded into an immaculate white envelope... This is no ordinary P45, this is a Marks and Spencer P45! ...with less moneyLAST AUGUST, Marks and Spencer (M&S) sacked one its workers who had blown the whistle on the high street retailer's plans to slash the redundancy terms of its 60,000 staff by up to 25%. The GMB union correctly foresaw this attack as a prelude to large job cuts, which happened last week when the company announced 1,200 job losses. Under M&S's plans a 49 year old employee with 30 years service would see their severance pay cut from £35,000 to £26,000. Those aged between 22 and 40 would only get two weeks' pay for each year worked instead of two-and-a-half. Those over 41, instead of receiving three-and-three-quarter weeks would only receive two-and-a-half. Yet Steven Esom, M&S former director of foods, was paid a whacking £500,000 payoff last July. Synergy-related headcount restructureNOKIA SIEMENS must win the 2008 Management Speak Bullshit Award for inventing a farcical new term for redundancy. To quote its website: "Nokia Siemens Networks enters final stage of synergy-related headcount restructuring" and goes on to boast that it is on course "to expect a total synergy-related adjustment of approximately 9,000 employees." In other words Nokia Siemens are sacking 9,000 of their staff. I suppose these unfortunate workers won't receive the usual P45 from Nokia Siemens either but instead will get a 'DWP Entry Voucher'! Rob BishopInteresting timesDESPITE THE Bank of England reducing its base lending rate to just 1.5% - the lowest rate since the bank was established in 1694 - it seems that the news hasn't got through to credit card providers. Despite interest rates falling from 5.25% in January 2008 to 2% in December 2008, credit card issuers increased the cost of borrowing in a bid to boost their profit margins. American Express has increased the cost of borrowing on one of its credit cards to 46%. Other cards also have APRs above 35%. Last December, credit card firms signed up to a set of "fair principles" on the charging of interest. However, the cost of card borrowing has risen over the three months up to December 2008. Cardholders are now facing average interest rates of 17.7% on credit cards, up from 16.6% 12 months ago. Store card debtors are facing even higher rates. The average cost of borrowing is now 25% a year, up from 23.9% one year ago. In this issue War and occupation Socialist Party editorial
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