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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2017/oct/09/royal-mail-strike-pensions-pay-jobs
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| Royal Mail’s attempt to block strike won’t sort this bitter dispute | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Royal Mail has applied to the high court for an injunction to prevent next week’s planned 48-hour walkout by members of the Communication Workers Union. A lot is riding on the court’s decision – for both sides. | Royal Mail has applied to the high court for an injunction to prevent next week’s planned 48-hour walkout by members of the Communication Workers Union. A lot is riding on the court’s decision – for both sides. |
| In the case of Moya Greene, the chief executive of Royal Mail, her credibility is on the line. She negotiated an “agenda for growth” agreement with the union just before privatisation in 2013 and it is a clause in that document that the company is now trying to enforce. | In the case of Moya Greene, the chief executive of Royal Mail, her credibility is on the line. She negotiated an “agenda for growth” agreement with the union just before privatisation in 2013 and it is a clause in that document that the company is now trying to enforce. |
| In essence, Royal Mail committed not to move jobs offshore, not to outsource roles and to limit the use zero-hours contracts. In return, it argues, the CWU agreed that five weeks of arbitration must take place before a strike can go ahead. Given how much weight Royal Mail attached to the agreement – at privatisation and subsequently – Greene needs to be able to show the wording was legally watertight. | In essence, Royal Mail committed not to move jobs offshore, not to outsource roles and to limit the use zero-hours contracts. In return, it argues, the CWU agreed that five weeks of arbitration must take place before a strike can go ahead. Given how much weight Royal Mail attached to the agreement – at privatisation and subsequently – Greene needs to be able to show the wording was legally watertight. |
| The CWU’s stance is that mediation has already happened and that Royal Mail is deliberately misinterpreting the 2013 agreement. There was a mediator present during the 18 months of talks that failed to reach a deal on pay and pensions, it argues. Union leaders, too, will look foolish if their legal arguments fail and next week’s strike has to be abandoned. The CWU signed the “agenda for growth” document; it is not a general piece of trades union legislation. | The CWU’s stance is that mediation has already happened and that Royal Mail is deliberately misinterpreting the 2013 agreement. There was a mediator present during the 18 months of talks that failed to reach a deal on pay and pensions, it argues. Union leaders, too, will look foolish if their legal arguments fail and next week’s strike has to be abandoned. The CWU signed the “agenda for growth” document; it is not a general piece of trades union legislation. |
| A battle in the high court probably won’t calm the mood on either side, whatever is decided, but the loser will start on the back foot. | A battle in the high court probably won’t calm the mood on either side, whatever is decided, but the loser will start on the back foot. |
| IoD governance report could spur wrong kind of debate | |
| Is GlaxoSmithKline the worst-governed company in the FTSE 100 index? Can Barclays really be the fourth best? | |
| The Institute of Directors thinks so – or, rather, its Good Governance Report has produced these rankings for 2017 based on 47 “indicators” of good governance weighted according to significance. It all sounds terribly objective and mathematical until you examine the breakdown of the scores and realise nobody applied a filter for common sense. | |
| Why is Glaxo ranked a long way below Rolls-Royce and BT for “audit risk and external accountability”? The engine-maker in January agreed to pay £671m in penalties to settle allegations of bribery and corruption brought by the Serious Fraud Office. In the same month, BT confessed to a £530m black hole in its subsidiary in Italy. Glaxo’s big Chinese bribery scandal was three years ago and it has suffered no similar indignity since. How can the pharmaceuticals firm still be bottom of the pile? | |
| Other weird findings include a near-perfect score for Imperial Brands on “shareholder relations” even though shareholders in the tobacco group revolted over a plan to give the chief executive a big pay rise. Meanwhile, Provident Financial has illustrated how these reports can be a hostage to events. The doorstep lender received its near-perfect score for “remuneration and reward” just before its share price collapsed and the chief executive, Peter Crook, who had been paid £30m over five years, was ousted. | |
| As for Barclays, fourth place is clearly better than the last place it received a couple of years ago. Yet the high ranking ignores the fact that its chief executive, Jes Staley, is under investigation by the financial regulator for the serious governance breach of attempting to unmask a whistleblower. | |
| Perhaps one shouldn’t be too hard on the IoD, which promotes good governance more actively than the CBI and has been strong in denouncing lax standards at Sports Direct and BHS. But this report may fail in its attempt “to stimulate an ongoing debate about the importance of good corporate governance”. These rankings are more likely to provoke baffled cries of “Do you actually follow the news?” | |
| Deutsche Börse move highlights risk of lacking transition deal | Deutsche Börse move highlights risk of lacking transition deal |
| It is possible that Deutsche Börse’s attempt to lure part of the euro clearing market to Frankfurt has nothing to do with Brexit. The strategy could be influenced by financial market regulations that are changing anyway. But Brexit seems the most likely spur. Amid the non-agreement over transitional arrangements, Frankfurt sees an opportunity to grab a slice of a lucrative market from the London Stock Exchange, which currently dominates the clearing game. | It is possible that Deutsche Börse’s attempt to lure part of the euro clearing market to Frankfurt has nothing to do with Brexit. The strategy could be influenced by financial market regulations that are changing anyway. But Brexit seems the most likely spur. Amid the non-agreement over transitional arrangements, Frankfurt sees an opportunity to grab a slice of a lucrative market from the London Stock Exchange, which currently dominates the clearing game. |
| You’d still bet on the LSE to defend itself robustly since Deutsche’s approach seems to be copycat profit-sharing offer to the investment banks. Yet this saga should serve as another reminder about the risks to the City of entering 2018 without a transitional deal. Banks don’t want to trigger their contingency plans, but they are also obliged to cover the danger of the EU writing rules that force some financial activities to shift location. The longer this goes on, the greater the risk to City jobs. | You’d still bet on the LSE to defend itself robustly since Deutsche’s approach seems to be copycat profit-sharing offer to the investment banks. Yet this saga should serve as another reminder about the risks to the City of entering 2018 without a transitional deal. Banks don’t want to trigger their contingency plans, but they are also obliged to cover the danger of the EU writing rules that force some financial activities to shift location. The longer this goes on, the greater the risk to City jobs. |