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European Edition
25th November 2022
 
THE HOT STORY
Amazon faces Black Friday protests in 40 countries
Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers in about 40 countries are planning to take part in protests and walkouts to coincide with Black Friday sales. Workers in the US, UK, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and across Europe want better wages and working conditions as the cost-of-living crisis deepens. A campaign called “Make Amazon Pay” is being coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions alongside other civil society groups. “It’s time for the tech giant to cease their awful, unsafe practices immediately, respect the law and negotiate with the workers who want to make their jobs better,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary for UNI Global Union, one of the campaign’s organisers. “While we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing on these important matters you’ll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously,” Amazon spokesman David Nieberg said.
LEGAL
Business and unions demand Sunak scraps planned bonfire of EU rules
Over a dozen organisations have called on UK prime minister Rishi Sunak to drop plans to automatically strip EU-derived legislation from the British statute book, arguing that it would cause “significant confusion and disruption.” In a letter sent to Grant Shapps, the business secretary, the alliance, including the Trades Union Congress, the Institute of Directors and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “Getting to grips with any resulting regulatory changes will impose a major new burden on business which it could well do without.” The letter says the proposal would overturn “decades of case law” and make the “interpretation of the law highly uncertain.” This could affect holiday pay, safe working hours and laws governing the labelling of some foodstuffs. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former minister for Brexit opportunities, has previously praised the Retained EU Law Bill, saying it is vital to create distance between the UK and the EU.
EU Court of Justice reverses anti-money laundering rules
Several EU countries have started closing their public beneficial ownership registers after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that providing the general public with access to information on beneficial ownership constitutes a serious interference with fundamental rights. The case was sent to the CJEU from a Luxembourg court after challenges to the Luxembourg Business Registers, which disputed the compatibility of this provision with the right to privacy. Maíra Martini, corrupt money flows expert at Transparency International, said: “Access to beneficial ownership data is vital to identifying – and stopping – corruption and dirty money . . . At a time when the need to track down dirty money is so plainly apparent, the court’s decision takes us back years.”
Compensation for dyslexic employee dismissed over mistakes in emails
Rita Jandu, a clothing and home planner at UK retailer Marks & Spencer who has dyslexia, has been awarded over £50,000 (€58,000) after she was dismissed for making mistakes in emails. Jandu, who worked for the High Street chain for 22 years, struggled to read and write lengthy messages and preferred to communicate using bullet points. An employment tribunal heard that Jandu was "singled out" by managers at M&S who selected her for redundancy after she appeared to rush her work and her emails contained inaccuracies. The tribunal has now ruled that M&S managers ignored the impact that Jandu's dyslexia had on her work including her ability to concentrate and communicate. Jandu was awarded £53,855 for disability discrimination and unfair dismissal.
STRATEGY
Massive gammon plant for UK
A Danish pork producer is to build a £100m gammon and bacon factory in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The factory will be completely powered by renewable energy and will create 300 jobs once it is operational. Danish Crown’s new factory, which is its first UK production facility in three years, will have the capacity to produce more than 900 tonnes of bacon and gammon per week when it is fully operational. It is expected to be up and running in the second half of 2023. 
CORPORATE
Credit Suisse forecasts $1.6bn loss as wealthy clients withdraw funds
Credit Suisse warned on Wednesday that it was on course to make losses of £1.3bn in the fourth quarter, leaving it £3bn in the red over the full year. The Zurich-headquartered bank revealed clients have pulled £56bn from its wealth management arm and £4.6bn from the domestic Swiss bank since the start of October as fears over its future mount. The loss equates to 10% of AUM leaving its wealth management unit, something Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti describes as “deeply concerning.” The bank’s shares fell 6% in trading on Wednesday to SFr3.62, its lowest price for at least 30 years.
REGULATION
Twitter’s Brussels office empty
Twitter’s Brussels team has been completely disbanded, The Guardian reports, leading the paper to raise concerns about the company’s ability to enforce new EU rules intended to rein in the power of big tech and restrict hate speech. But a European Commission spokesperson said officials have many contacts with Twitter in Dublin, where the social media company has its European headquarters.
TAX
UK’s digital services tax reaps £360m in first year
A National Audit Office (NAO) report has found that the UK’s digital services tax, which was introduced in April 2020 and imposes a 2% charge on the gross revenues made by US tech giants including Amazon, Google and Apple, has raised almost £360m in its first year. This is 30% more than the government had forecast in 2021. “The digital services tax has succeeded in raising more tax from some big digital companies and has brought in more money than forecast in its first year,” said Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO. He said UK authorities have not identified any firms failing to comply with the new tax, but that “HMRC could still face challenges enforcing compliance, especially among groups without a physical presence in the UK.”
Ireland to raise up to €1.9bn from energy windfall tax
Ireland is to cap the revenues of electricity generating companies that don't use gas. The plans could generate as much as €1.9bn for the Exchequer, depending on natural gas prices, although it is expected to be at the lower end of the range, the government said. The measures will affect renewable energy and fossil fuel producers. The move is in line with European Council regulations to curb profits and support struggling energy consumers. Separately, Italy has approved a €35bn budget law for next year which plans to raise a windfall tax on additional profits made by companies selling energy in order to expand energy aid relief to families and businesses.
SUSTAINABILITY
European asset managers blame regulatory confusion for downgrade of ESG funds
Confusion over new EU sustainability rules has forced Europe’s top asset managers to downgrade ESG funds, despite European officials providing fresh guidance over the summer.
INTERNATIONAL
RBS ex-banker's whistleblower award bid is declined
The U.S. Supreme Court has rebuffed a bid by former Royal Bank of Scotland managing director Victor Hong to collect a U.S. government whistleblower award of at least $490m for reporting alleged misconduct related to the lender's sales of mortgage-backed securities. There has been dispute over whether Hong's tips met the law's definition of "covered judicial or administrative action brought by the commission under the securities laws." The justices declined to hear Hong's appeal of a lower court's ruling that even though his tips helped federal agencies win large settlements against the bank he was not eligible for an award under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower program because the SEC did not take enforcement action itself. "The federal government . . . is putting its financial interests ahead of whistleblowers, without whom there would be little or no recoveries," Hong's attorney, Richard Corenthal, said.
Many UAE professionals plan to make career changes next year
The majority of UAE professionals in leadership roles intend to make career changes next year, including moving jobs or retiring from work, according to a new survey.  More than half (53%) of the country’s top-level executives polled for the Bupa Global 2022 Executive Wellbeing Index confirmed that they are reassessing their priorities and are planning to either leave their current employer or reduce working hours.  “Over the next year, the ‘rethinking of priorities’ will see one of the biggest waves of resignations and changes globally and locally . . . as some of the UAE’s top executives leave their jobs, become consultants, go part-time, retire or stop working completely,” Bupa said, adding that the trend is likely to create “seismic shifts in the local labour market at the highest level.”
Protest at Chinese iPhone factory
Footage widely circulated online shows protests erupting at the world's biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou. Videos show hundreds of workers marching, with some confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police. Last month Covid cases saw manufacturer Foxconn lock down the site, prompting some workers to break out and go home. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses. Foxconn has not yet commented on the latest disturbances.
 


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