Cost of Living crisis

Tesco rakes in £1bn while hiking prices amid cost-of-living crisis

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Tesco store. Creative commons licensed image by Editor5807.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tesco-rakes-in-1bn-while-hiking-prices-during-cost-of-living-crisis

Mega-rich firm accused of ‘obscene profiteering’ while millions struggle to feed their families

TESCO is indulging in “obscene profiteering” during the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, Unite the Union charged today after the supermarket giant reported a whopping £1 billion profit despite soaring food prices.

The mega-rich firm said it made the pre-tax windfall in the 12 months to the end of February as total sales rose by more than 7 per cent to £65.8bn.

The profit was less than half of the more than £2bn it pocketed a year earlier as the amount of product sold fell, but bosses admitted making up for the shortfall by charging more per item on average.

They declined to reveal how much they have jacked prices for hard-hit shoppers struggling to cope with crippling 18.2 per cent food inflation — the highest in 45 years.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Tesco’s profits are another example of excessive profiteering fired up by astonishing corporate greed.

“It’s this rampant profiteering which is driving inflation, and cranking up the cost-of-living crisis for workers and their families.

“How can it be that at a time when millions are struggling to feed their families Britain’s biggest supermarket is profiteering as never before.

“What sort of country have we become? Frankly, these results are obscene.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/tesco-rakes-in-1bn-while-hiking-prices-during-cost-of-living-crisis

Continue ReadingTesco rakes in £1bn while hiking prices amid cost-of-living crisis

Sky-high stress could cause NHS exodus

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sky-high%20stress-could-cause-nhs-exodus

MORE than three-quarters of NHS staff are considering quitting due to stress, burnout and anxiety, according to shocking figures published today.

A massive 78 per cent of the 2,500 NHS workers surveyed by campaign group Organise reported experiencing stress and over half (55 per cent) had taken time off because of stress, anxiety or burnout as the crisis in the NHS deepens, with 25 per cent staying away from work for more than a month.

Most NHS workers pointed to the impact that this was having on patient care, with over half saying that patients had experienced “medication errors, delays in procedures and a compromised quality of care.”

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Organise head Nat Whalley said: “NHS workers are exposing a ticking time bomb at the heart of our healthcare system.

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“We don’t need empty promises, we need tangible investment in the NHS that allow workers to thrive in their roles without suffering from stress, anxiety and burnout.

“Listen to us, invest in the well-being of our NHS workforce and ensure the future of the NHS.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sky-high%20stress-could-cause-nhs-exodus

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The case for a British state-owned electricity generation company

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/market-design/weekly-data-the-case-for-a-british-state-owned-electricity-generation-company/

A state-owned electricity generation company could save Britons £21bn ($24.8bn) a year (or £252 per household) while accelerating the transition to green energy, according to new analysis published by the think tank Common Wealth on 6 March. 

In the report, Common Wealth analyses a range of proposals recently set out by other stakeholders including government agencies, industry commentators and think tanks to reform the wholesale electricity market, whose fragmented design and over-exposure to natural gas has led to Britain experiencing disproportionately high energy bills since Russia invaded Ukraine, while renewable generators have reaped windfall profits. 

Analysing the pros and cons of a publicly owned generator compared with five other proposals recently tabled by various stakeholders – a wholesale price cap for low-carbon generators; a windfall tax on low-carbon generators; a voluntary shift to contracts for difference; splitting the electricity market; and establishing a single buyer of electricity – Common Wealth finds that the option of a state-owned electricity company comes out on top, both in terms of cost-savings potential and also which is most likely to incentivise greater investment in renewables. 

The generator would purchase the portfolio of existing UK low-carbon generation assets, including biomass and nuclear but not natural gas, in order to generate and sell electricity to households and businesses through an integrated public company using a power purchase agreement between the public generator and supplier, and would therefore, unlike many of the other options, “provide a long-term solution” to the wholesale pricing system while passing the savings directly back to households and businesses. 

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/market-design/weekly-data-the-case-for-a-british-state-owned-electricity-generation-company/

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Unions accuse multimillionaire Chancellor of ‘waging war on working people’

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Striking members of the National Education Union (NEU) on Piccadilly march to a rally in Trafalgar Square, central London, in a long-running dispute over pay. Picture date: Wednesday March 15, 2023.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/unions-accuse-multimillionaire-chancellor-of-waging-war-on-working-people

THE Tories are “waging war on working people,” unions warned today as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget coincided with a massive day of strikes by hundreds of thousands of workers nationwide.

Unions slammed the ex-Tory leadership candidate’s “fiscal event” for failing to tackle pay disputes across the country, with teachers, university lecturers, civil servants, junior doctors, London Tube drivers and BBC journalists all downing tools today.

As Mr Hunt delivered his speech, thousands of workers rallied outside.

They gathered as the Office for Budget Responsibility, which the former health secretary praised for predicting Britain would now avoid a technical recession this year, warned that people still face the biggest fall in living standards on record.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/unions-accuse-multimillionaire-chancellor-of-waging-war-on-working-people

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box, before delivering his Budget at the Houses of Parliament. Picture date: Wednesday March 15, 2023.

Hunt’s Budget ignored pay and public services – it’s high time the Westminster bubble was burst

BRITAIN’S biggest strike surge in decades was the elephant in the room, almost ignored in the Chancellor’s Budget speech.

The huge strike march winding through Whitehall wasn’t referenced by either front bench. Yet the demands for proper pay rises and investment in public services it championed speak more directly to people’s concerns than any of Jeremy Hunt’s headline announcements.

Hunt referred vaguely to inflation as the cause of industrial disputes — before dishonestly citing it as the reason the government is denying workers the pay rises they need and deserve.

His dishonesty didn’t end there. The government is doing everything it can to resolve the disputes, the Chancellor claimed.

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Hunt’s Budget ignored pay and public services – it’s high time the Westminster bubble was burst

Continue ReadingUnions accuse multimillionaire Chancellor of ‘waging war on working people’

NHS workers in despair over pay, staffing shortages, and plummeting standards of care

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nhs-workers-in-despair-pay-staffing-shortages-plummeting-standards-of-care

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A DEVASTATING picture of the NHS facing catastrophe has been laid bare in one of the largest workplace surveys in the health service.

Tens of thousands said they would not trust the NHS to treat their own relatives, the poll of more than 600,000 staff found.

Nurses, midwives and other workers expressed their utter despair over pay, staffing shortages, plummeting standards of care, lack of time to do their jobs properly and their own wellbeing.

Almost a quarter said they will probably look for a job outside the NHS in the next 12 months.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/nhs-workers-in-despair-pay-staffing-shortages-plummeting-standards-of-care

Continue ReadingNHS workers in despair over pay, staffing shortages, and plummeting standards of care