More than 350 staff at London Transit were due to walk out on 26, 27 and 28 November
Three more days of strike action by west London bus workers have been postponed pending further talks next week.
More than 350 staff at London Transit were due to walk out on 26, 27 and 28 November. Drivers, engineers and store workers based at the Westbourne Park depot are unhappy with a below-inflation pay rise offered by the company’s parent firm, First Bus London.
The same Unite union members previously took part in industrial action on 14, 17 and 18 November.
First Bus London said: “We’re pleased that, following positive discussions, the planned strike action has been cancelled and that further talks with Unite will continue.”
It added: “Industrial action causes significant disruption for Londoners who rely on our services and for our colleagues, so we welcome this outcome.”
Unite has agreed to attend a meeting with conciliation service Acas and London Transit on 2 December in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Transport for London confirmed that services were expected to run as normal in the coming days.
‘Utter disregard’
Unite previously requested an above-inflation pay offer with full back pay for all employees, demands it says have not yet been met.
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is disgraceful behaviour from a company making millions from London bus passengers.
“It shows an utter disregard for its workers and the hard work they do day in, day out.
“Our members won’t stand for such behaviour and Unite will back them all the way in this dispute with a company that has a history of anti-worker behaviour.”
Routes affected during the strike would have included 13, 23, 31, N31, 218, 295 and 452.
WASHINGTON — Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham is seeking nominations for the CFTC CEO Innovation Council. The deadline for submissions is December 8. Under Acting Chairman Pham’s leadership, the CFTC has led rapid advancements on innovation and market structure, including the Crypto CEO Forum, prediction markets, perpetual contracts, and 24/7 trading. The CFTC’s Crypto Sprint to implement the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report recommendations is targeted to continue through August 2026 and includes listed spot crypto trading, tokenized collateral and stablecoins, and rulemaking to enable the use of blockchain technology and market infrastructure.
“The U.S. is leading a new era in market structure, and the CFTC is at the forefront of this renaissance accelerated by innovation and technology,” said Acting Chairman Pham. “The CFTC stands ready to carry out our mission over expanded markets and products, including crypto and digital assets, and ensure our markets remain vibrant and resilient while protecting all participants. In order to hit the ground running, it is critical that the CFTC drives public engagement with the support of expert industry leaders and visionaries who are building the future. That is why today I am calling upon CEOs to join us in shaping responsible regulations that will lay the foundation for America’s Golden Age of Innovation.”
Acting Chairman Pham invites members of the public to nominate individuals for the CEO Innovation Council and propose potential topics to prioritize. Each nomination submission should include relevant information about the nominee, such as the individual’s name, title, and organizational affiliation as well as information that supports the individual’s qualifications for the CEO Innovation Council. The submission should also include suggestions for potential topics to prioritize as well as the name and email or mailing address of the person nominating the individual. Submission of a nomination is not a guarantee of selection for the CEO Innovation Council.
CEO Innovation Council nominations and potential topics should be emailed to [email protected]. Please use the subject ‘‘CEO Innovation Council Nomination’’ for submissions.
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Just what an embattled chancellor needs on the eve of a tax-raising budget: a leading retailer upping its profits forecast and singing about the joys of the UK economy.
Unfortunately, only the first bit is true. Kingfisher, owner of B&Q and Screwfix (and similar businesses in France and Poland), raised its profit expectations for its current financial year from £480m-£540m to £540m-£570m.
But it definitely didn’t ooze confidence in the UK outlook. Rather, Kingfisher noted “softening market conditions” and added: “We continue to be mindful of inflation, uncertainty ahead of the autumn budget and the softening labour market.”
In other words, the group is saying its improvement in the profits department is a self-help job, which is fair. Like-for-like sales in the UK in the last quarter were up 3%. It is winning market share in the UK (where it helps that Homebase went into administration a year ago), grabbing a bigger slice of the professional “trade” market and improving its e-commerce game. The slick Screwfix operation continues to be streets ahead of its direct rivals. Meanwhile, the recently troubled French operation (Castorama and Brico Dépôt) is being restructured, which helped slightly to off-set local “weak consumer sentiment” that sounds several degrees worse than in the UK.
Take a step back and Kingfisher’s progress can be regarded as a parable of the retail scene in two ways. First, it is proof that a basically well managed operator in a strong competitive position can prosper even under subdued economic conditions. For other examples, think Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Next. All have been great shares to own in the 12 months since Rachel Reeves’s last budget, never mind the increase in employers’ national insurance and the rest of it.
The other aspect is more nuanced. On one hand, the ridiculously long and chaotic build-up to the budget has plainly sapped consumer confidence – a CBI distributive trades survey on Tuesday confirmed what we already knew. On the other hand, there still remains a basic level of resilience if Kingfisher is a guide. “Softening” is not the same as outright soft. For that, give thanks for four cuts in interest rates since last October’s budget. Lower mortgage costs matter particularly in DIY businesses for big-ticket items such as kitchens and bathrooms.
So one can – just about – sketch out an optimistic scenario for consuming-facing companies in which Reeves avoids inflation-raising howlers such as last year’s NICs rises and clears the way for the Bank of England to cut interest rates faster. The gilts market has half-bought that story in recent weeks as yields have fallen from their scary September highs.
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The alternative, though, is not good from businesses’ point of view. The prospect of rate cuts is virtually the only big-picture factor running in their favour as they contemplate pressure on wages and fixed costs. Remove lower borrowing costs and there’s little to stop softening conditions turning soggy very quickly. Kingfisher, to repeat, can handle most outcomes. But consumer sentiment across the retail landscape looks fragile.
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