Burberry job cuts: Wakefield Council offers support to workers
'Cost-cutting drive'
Council leader Denise Jeffery said: "We know that everyone who works for Burberry will be understandably worried by this announcement and the proposed job cuts will cause a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for many local families."We are looking to get more information from Burberry about their plans and understand how they are going to engage with staff and the trade unions on these proposals." Ms Jeffrey added: "We'll also look to offer support to any affected employees." The job cuts form part of a wider cost-cutting drive at Burberry with the company announcing plans to double its savings target to £100m a year by the 2027 financial year.
Burberry chief executive Joshua Schulman said most job losses would come from its head office teams around the world but the cuts would "naturally" be focused in the UK, where most of its staff are based.The two main head offices of the brand - famed for its camel-coloured trench coats - are located in London and Leeds. Mr Schulman confirmed staff rotas would be reorganised and that night shifts at the factory in Castleford would be scrapped.It was announced in February that planning permission had been granted for the upgrade of the Castleford factory, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
A spokesperson for the GMB union said it was a "sad blow" for the workers and for Castleford. "Burberry is the town's biggest employer and a third of the workforce are going," a spokesperson said."GMB calls on Burberry to work with us to ensure non of the redundancies are compulsory and that support packages are in place for these workers."Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
Moon Lane Books launches fundraiser after financial issues
A bookshop in south-east London which was crowned Children's Bookseller of the Year two years in a row has started a fundraiser to help with its financial Lane Books in Catford says the rising cost-of-living as well as shrinking school budgets - which it works with for collaborations - were impacting its far, more than £11,000 of its £40,000 target has been raised. It will use the money to help to cover business costs and organise free community to the Booksellers Association, the number of bookshops in the UK fell from 1,063 to 1,052 in 2024 in the UK, In London, seven independent stores closed last year however ten new ones were set up. The store, which opened in 2018, runs workshops, storytelling sessions and school outreach owners say the store specialises in "promoting equity and inclusion" within children's literature, and aims to ensure "every child has access to books that enable them to feel seen, reflected, respected and valued."The majority of the £40,000 target is required to cover rent, business rates and other overheads, according to the store's rest will go towards running free in-store events and a monthly book club. One of their key goals is to fundraise to pay authors to run workshops and events."This particular goal is all the more important for us, because people are often pushed out of the creative industries when they are not adequately paid for their work and time," they said. The shop says it supports authors from all backgrounds, and aims to represent different cultures, disabilities, socio-economic situations and family dynamics in the books on was awarded Children's Bookseller of the Year in 2020 and 2021, and British Bookseller of the Year in 2021, by the British Book manager Jasmine Dellimore said: "It's great to see how happy these kids are to see themselves reflected in the books we stock."The aim is to continue holding events so that kids can come in, read stories, have stories be told to them, and be inspired to tell their own stories and share their own experiences." 'A little oasis' Lauren Webb, who frequently visits the shop with her two daughters, said it would be "such a shame" if it were to close."We come in here a lot and it's like a little oasis in here. It's a really important part of the local community."Ruby Tipper, one of the children who is a regular customer at the shop, said she found it "very welcoming and inviting with all its colours and books laid out".
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Bank of England forecast to cut interest rates amid rising unemployment and Trump tariffs
Bank of England policymakers are widely expected to cut interest rates this week to prevent the economy sliding backwards amid rising unemployment and the hit to global trade from Donald Trump's fresh round of import tariffs. City traders are betting that the Bank's nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) will reduce the headline rate on Thursday by 0.25 percentage points to 4%, marking the fifth cut since last August and taking interest rates back to where they were in March 2023. Financial markets have put the chance of a reduction at the August meeting at more than 80% and are pencilling in a further quarter-point reduction before the end of the year. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will welcome the move, which will push down mortgages rates and cut the cost of borrowing for cash-strapped businesses. However, the decision is likely to illustrate the difficult situation confronting the UK as the government struggles to boost growth while trying to limit Whitehall spending before the autumn budget. The economy shrank in May by 0.1% and in April by 0.3%, which many economists blamed on the uncertainty caused by Trump's tariffs and extra business taxes in last October's budget, which came into effect in April. In a sign of weaker growth over the next year, the number of vacancies fell below its pre-pandemic level and the unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in the three months to May, reaching the highest level since June 2021. Trump has signed a trade deal with the UK capping tariffs on most goods to 10%, but on Friday the US president announced extra import tariffs on trading partners of up to 50%, harming global growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently said the UK economy would struggle to expand by more than 0.1% in the third and fourth quarters of the year, before a slight increase in the quarterly growth rate to 0.3% next year. The MPC will publish fresh forecasts on Thursday that could prove to be even gloomier, indicating that a period of stagflation is imminent, brought on by a slowdown in growth over the next year while inflation remains high. The consumer prices index (CPI) increased by 3.6% in the year to June, according to the latest official figures, well above the MPC's 2% target. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Matt Swannell, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club said an increase in vacancies and higher unemployment showed the labour market was weakening while pay growth had cooled more quickly than the Bank of England's May forecast. But he forecast a split in the MPC vote after a jump in food inflation in June. 'Signs of lingering price pressures will mean the committee remains cautious, with two of the hawkish MPC members expected to favour no change,' he said. Inflation has risen by more than the Bank of England expected three months ago after significant increases in the cost of some basic items such as meat and butter. 'The increase in food prices is particularly important to the MPC as it feeds through to households' inflation expectations – one of the committee's key gauges around the risk of inflation persistence,' Swannell added.
Telegraph
8 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump is wrong to pick a fight with Powell – but is right about interest rates
Visiting Scotland last week, Donald Trump used a joint press conference to mock Keir Starmer. He castigated Labour's policies on immigration, energy and much else. The Prime Minister sat awkwardly, sporting his trademark rictus grin. Trump has lately dished out plenty of public humiliation – not least aimed at Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. The president has put huge pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates, to boost US growth and ease interest payments on America's massive $36trn (£27.6trn) national debt. This jars badly with the conventional wisdom that central banks should be independent, allowing technocrat economists to set interest rates to bear down on inflation. That's far better for the economy in the long-run, but this precious independence is jeopardised when vote-hungry politicians seek to keep borrowing costs too low. Such independence has become an almost sacred policy concept over the last half century. And no central bank matters more than the Fed, which sets the course for monetary policy across the globe. Yet Trump, astonishingly, has lately called Powell a 'numbskull', a 'stubborn mule' and worse. On a recent Fed visit, he rebuked him over the cost of a refurbishment project – a potential pretext to sack Powell, which may not be legally possible, but which Trump often floats regardless. Between September and December last year, the Fed's committee of twelve rate-setters voted to lower the US benchmark interest rate three times from its post-Covid-peak of 5.25pc-5.5pc, in increments down to 4.25pc-4.5pc. But much to the president's frustration, rates have since stayed put. The Bank of England, meanwhile, has cut rates four times since last summer, including as recently as May, while the European Central Bank has enacted no less than eight eurozone rate reductions over the same period, the latest in June. Having held rates since the start of 2025, the Fed just did so again when governors met last Wednesday (although two Trump-appointees voted against, the biggest intra-Fed rate disagreement in thirty years). Fed policymakers are rightly worried about price pressures, with headline inflation hitting 3.7pc during the year to June, up from 2.4pc the previous month and well above the 2pc target. And Trump's era-defining slew of tariffs – taxes on imports into the US – means we could see a lot more inflation yet. With the President's three-month moratorium expiring this weekend, and tariffs now set to bite on some of America's largest trading partners, the Fed is understandably concerned. Powell insists the US economy is strong enough for the Fed to wait before further rate cuts, as we see if Trump's tariffs really do aggravate inflation. And last week's GDP numbers – a 3pc expansion from April to June – was certainly way above consensus forecasts, reversing a 0.5pc contraction during the first three months of the year, the worst quarterly performance since early 2022. This January to March shrinkage, though, was largely due to the huge rise in US imports as buyers sought to get ahead of Trump's expected tariff onslaught. And since 'liberation day' in April, when the President unveiled his tariffs on the White House lawn, imports into the US have plunged. This artificially boosted April to June GDP growth as the first-quarter trend unwound. Yes, consumer spending rose 1.4pc during the second quarter, outpacing the 0.5pc increase over the previous three months, supporting Powell's argument the economy is coping without further rate cuts. But 'final sales to private domestic purchasers', a key demand metric that the Fed watches closely, grew just 1.2pc over the latest quarter, slower than the 1.9pc increase between January and March. High mortgage rates are also holding back the housing market and related construction, as Trump relentlessly points out, with residential investment down 4.6pc during the second quarter. But that's part of a broader investment slump as business leaders look to see how the president's tariffs play out. For now, the market consensus is that the US economy is showing resilience, but more rate cuts may be justified as long as inflation isn't further provoked. So Trump's attacks on Powell are based on legitimate economic analysis. Yet his language is way over the top. Some say the president is picking headline-grabbing fights with the Fed chair to detract from mounting criticism over his handling of the Epstein files. I suspect he simply wants lower rates and, for now at least, Powell stands in his way. Ironically, it was Trump who appointed Powell in 2017. But having repeatedly called for him to resign, the president seems certain to replace him when Powell's term expires next May. In the meantime, Trump's ceaseless undermining of central bank independence is deeply damaging. Yes, the Fed has a 'dual mandate' to pursue both price stability and full employment, unlike the solely inflation-focussed aims of most other central banks. But while Trump's arguments may be technically valid, it should absolutely not be him making them, nor anyone else near the top of government. Given the tone he has set, though, Powell's successor will be seen as the president's lackey. And with US and global inflation far from tamed, that could end up being a serious problem. My general view is that central bank independence is far more important than any individual central banker. Andrew Bailey, for instance, has shown seriously bad judgement at the Bank of England – endlessly insisting post-Covid inflation would be 'transitory', for instance, while deriding those of us who correctly predicted otherwise. His appointment was a mistake, but he should stay, free from the threat politicians might remove him, until his term expires in March 2028. The same applies to Powell and far more so – he should serve his full term.
