Latest news with #UniteTheUnion
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
The Left has a long history of catastrophic financial errors – Reeves is about to follow suit
Is being Left-wing bad for your finances? Does distrusting markets lead to bad investment decisions? And if so, is this the common thread that brings together the cataclysmic choices of The Guardian, Unite the union, Gordon Brown and Rachel Reeves? The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust, an endowment now valued at around £1.3bn, whose purpose is to keep the paper going in perpetuity. Much of this money originates from the sale of what started off as a car listings magazine, and then became an online marketplace, Autotrader. The Guardian Media Group sold 49.9pc of Autotrader's parent, Trader Media Group, to private equity firm, Apax, for £675m in 2007 – and the remaining 50.1pc to it for around £700m in 2014. This may at first sound like a brilliant deal. The Guardian's initial decision to invest in Autotrader certainly was a wise one. But the deal looks rather less great if you take a look at Autotrader's current valuation. Apax floated the Auto Trader Group on the London Stock Exchange in 2015 with an initial market capitalisation of around £2bn. It now stands at nearly £7.3bn, and many commentators, including The Telegraph's own Questor column, think the company is still undervalued. It is rather delicious that The Guardian's net zero zealots owe the paper's survival to a site flogging cars – it certainly isn't down to the paper's own profitability. The paper lost nearly £25m in the year to March 2025, and £37m the year before. But just think how much more greenery and tax hiking the paper could push if its endowment was not £1.3bn, but over £7bn. Unite, one of Britain's largest unions with around 1.2 million members and a Labour Party affiliate, has done rather worse with its own assets, as an interim internal report revealed last week. Under its previous general secretary, Len McCluskey – a staunch socialist and champion of Jeremy Corbyn – the union spent over £110m on a hotel and conference centre, the Aloft Birmingham Eastside – but the building is only valued at £35m. The report states that the cost of drilling holes in blockwork walls was estimated at £91,000, but was charged at £1.3m. The union has not submitted a full annual return to the Certification Officer, a legal requirement, since 2020. Unite would perhaps have been better off if it had shunned capitalist enterprise in practice, as well as in theory, and avoided going into business altogether. On a national scale, Gordon Brown's decision as chancellor to reduce the nation's gold holdings was a truly appalling commercial choice. Between 1999 and 2002, the Treasury sold 401 tons of gold, reducing the UK's strategic reserve from 715 tons in 1999 to around 314 tons in 2003. The sale price averaged at $275 per ounce and brought in a total of around $3.5bn (£2.7bn). The gold price, generally quoted in US dollars, now stands at over $3,300 per ounce. The holdings sold by Brown would now be worth over $42bn, or over £31bn – tenfold what Brown brought in.
BBC News
22-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Calls for government to save Lincolnshire's Lindsey Oil Refinery
Unions and political parties have called on the government to intervene and keep the Lindsey Oil Refinery Minister Michael Shanks announced the plant in North East Lincolnshire was to shut after the government said it was unable to find a buyer for Official Receiver took over the site in Immingham last month after its owner, Prax, went into administration, putting 420 jobs at the Union general secretary Sharon Graham said: "The government can't sit on the sidelines any longer." She added: "The Lindsey refinery is critical national infrastructure and is essential for the UK's fuel supply and the health of the regional economy."The government needs to reverse the premature decision to stop buying crude oil and to extend the time to find a viable long-term solution for the site."Ms Graham's views were echoed by Reform UK, which said it was "shocked that after just three weeks, the Government has given up on the Lindsey Oil Refinery".A statement, co-signed by Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns and the leader of Lincolnshire County Council Sean Matthews, said the party believed "a different course of action is essential"."We understand from our sources that the refinery can be profitable with the right management and ownership structure," the statement said."The Government should be looking at joint venture structures, such as the site being publicly owned and bringing in top operating expertise in a public private profit share arrangement." Unite previously said the closure of the Immingham refinery could affect up to 1,000 jobs when taking into account contractors and the supply a written statement in the House of Commons earlier, Shanks said: "The Official Receiver has rigorously assessed all the bids received and concluded that sale of the business as a whole is not a credible option."Having visited some of the workers on site on 17 July, I know this will be hugely disappointing news for them, their families and the local community."A package has been offered to all those directly employed at the refinery, which guarantees jobs and pay over the coming months."He added that the Official Receiver was exploring various proposals for assets."I therefore remain hopeful that a solution will be found that creates future employment opportunities at the Immingham site," he said. Analysis Prax is living on borrowed government is talking about timetables for closing its various oil processing will stop at the end of this month with fuels and oils being sold in the weeks that follow - until they run are calling on the owners of the site to, in their words, "do the right thing" and offer financial support to the hundreds who are losing their Government is asking the insolvency service to investigate how the financial health of Prax was allowed to decline so trade unions are continuing to call for government intervention to keep the plant operational in the long that level of support is looking unlikely. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices.
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
PTSB agrees 4% pay rise with staff following months of union negotiations
More than 3,000 staff at PTSB will see pay rise by up to 4 per cent following what was described as 'extensive work' in negotiations between the bank and a group of unions. Members of the Financial Services Union , Mandate and Unite The Union voted on Friday to accept the agreement on the pay negotiations. The unions and the bank reached agreement on the 4 per cent offer which they said was divided evenly across two pots, a 2 per cent general increase and a 2 per cent increase through a performance payment model. The increases are set to be backdated to the start of the year. The agreement, which was reached with the support of an independent mediator, comes after 'significant and extensive negotiations' over several months. READ MORE There will also be an increase to the lowest entry-level salary for new staff to €29,580 from €27,500, with any staff currently being paid under the new minimum getting boosted to the new level. The two sides have agreed to put in place a special representative group which will work on the existing performance evaluation system for the remainder of the year. In a joint statement, PTSB and the unions said they 'welcome the acceptance of this pay agreement by the members and acknowledge the extensive work and effort that took place between all parties to reach this agreement'. The mediator said the range of negotiations was 'extensive and quite complex'. The two parties have agreed to start their 2026 pay negotiations in October in the hopes of coming to an earlier agreement. In February, the bank confirmed plans to cut about 300 jobs this year after receiving a strong level of applications for a voluntary redundancy scheme at the start of 2025. Sources told The Irish Times at the time that the scheme had been heavily oversubscribed.
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Deal struck over fuel deliveries at UK's Lindsey Oil Refinery
A deal has been reached to ensure supplies of crude oil to a refinery after its owner went into Lindsey Oil Refinery Limited, which owns the plant in Immingham, North East Lincolnshire, filed for insolvency on Sunday, putting hundreds of jobs at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said an agreement had now been reached to resume deliveries in and out of the BBC understands crude oil stocks already held at the site have been bought with taxpayers' money to allow the refinery to keep operating. Earlier this week, the Reuters news agency reported the government was in talks with commodities trader Glencore over the status of its supply and offtake contract with the a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for DESNZ said: "An agreement has been reached to resume deliveries in and out of the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery. The official receiver is ensuring continued safe operations at the site."The UK is well supplied with fuel – the site is right next door to one of the biggest and most efficient refineries in the country, and stock levels are normal across the UK."Prax Group, which is led by chairman and chief executive Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, purchased Lindsey Oil Refinery from French company Total in 2021. The company's financial reports indicated the plant recorded losses of about £75m between the takeover and February are 420 employees at the refinery, though Unite the Union said 1,000 jobs could be affected when taking into account contractors and the supply chain. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Michael Shanks, the energy minister, said workers had been "badly let down" and the government was demanding "an immediate investigation into the conduct of the directors and the circumstances surrounding this insolvency".Shanks also said the government was actively looking for a buyer for the business and, if that failed, other potential uses for the to the government, Lindsey is the smallest of the UK's oil refineries producing fuel. It is located next to the Phillips 66 Humber refinery, which is the dominant fuel supplier in the region and continues to operate at profit. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Lindsey Oil Refinery workers 'left in dark' over job fears
Employees have been left "in the dark" after the owner of an oil refinery went into administration, a worker has Lindsey Oil Refinery Limited, which owns the plant in Immingham, North Lincolnshire, filed for insolvency on Sunday, putting at least 420 jobs at worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was "worried sick" not knowing if he would be paid his Monday, the government said it would "provide short-term funding to cover the essential operating costs of the refinery" after Unite the Union said 1,000 jobs could be affected when taking into account contractors and the supply chain. The worker said: "I'm feeling let down and upset. We've heard nothing from the company and nothing from the unions – they're just staying tight-lipped. "I'm panicking because I've got a mortgage."At the moment, we don't know if we're going to be paid. So it's playing on your mental health – it's really stressful."He said the collapse of the company had come as a "shock". Prax Group purchased Lindsey Oil Refinery from French company Total in to the Department for Energy Security, the plant recorded losses of about £75m between the takeover in 2021 and February Community Union said its members were "increasingly concerned" and wanted "clarification on where they stand and how they will be impacted by the situation in the wider Prax Group". "We are pursuing an urgent meeting with the company to address our members' concerns," a spokesperson living close to the refinery also expressed their Clark, 85, from the nearby village of North Killingholme, said: "If it's that important, then it's got to be saved and the community will be backing that."Andrew Smith, the manager of the nearby Ashbourne Hotel, added: "I think it would be a big sad loss for everybody if it were to go. It will have a big impact on the community as there's a lot of people locally that work at the refinery or the suppliers." Built in 1968, the Lindsey refinery can process about 113,000 barrels of oil a day. Mick Simpson, a Unite regional officer, said the refinery was making "a significant contribution" to the local and national economy, supplying fuel to petrol stations and in the House of Commons on Monday, Michael Shanks, the energy minister, said the government was actively looking for a buyer for the business and, if that failed, other potential uses for the called on Prax Group's leadership to "do the right thing and provide support to the workers through this difficult period".Earlier in the day, he called for an "an immediate investigation into the conduct of the directors and the circumstances surrounding this insolvency".The Insolvency Service said the official receiver would "wind up the companies in accordance with his statutory duties". "He also has a duty to investigate the cause of the companies' failure and conduct of current and former directors," it consultancy firm Teneo said it had been appointed administrator of State Oil Limited, Prax's parent Boardman, from Teneo, said administrators were "considering all options for the group, including the prospect of a sale for the group's upstream business and retail operations in the UK and Europe, all of which remain outside of insolvency".Prax Group has been contacted for comment. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
