Telecoms workers at BT are being balloted on strike action in support of their pay dispute with the company.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) says BT can afford a 5% pay rise after what it says is a two-year wage freeze and a round of redundancies.

The company has offered an increase of 5.1% over 21 months and several one-off payments. The ballot closes on 5 July.

Andy Kerr, of the CWU, said it was “seeking an affordable and reasonable pay rise for our members in BT”. Read more »

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Despite growing irritation caused to fans and players alike, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s say they have sold 40,000 of the plastic trumpets at £2 each.

Sainsburys expects another 35,000 to fly off the shelves by the end of the tournament.

When England played against the USA on Saturday it sold a vuvuzela every two seconds. Read more »

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Spar has signed a deal with Haven and Butlins Holiday owner Bourne Leisure Group to open branded convenience stores at all its UK sites.

The £150m deal will see Spar open 42 stores in all 36 Haven Holiday Parks across England, Scotland and Wales and the three Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts in Bognor Regis, Skegness and Minehead creating hundreds of sales assistant jobs.

As part of the partnership, the on site stores will benefit from Spar’s national promotional activity and consumer marketing including £5m media spend to promote the stores. Read more »

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UK retail sales rebounded in May, driven by the warm weather and discounting, a survey has said.

Like-for-like sales, which take out the impact of new store openings, rose by 0.8% compared with a year ago, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

Sales of televisions in the run up the World Cup also helped to drive sales, the group added.

Retail sales growth was weak in May last year, which also helps to explain the rise in sales last month.

World Cup boost

But the figures do provide some cheer after retail sales fell sharply in April.

“The sunnier second half of May provided a welcome boost to overall sales,” said the BRC’s director general Stephen Robertson.

The warmer weather, together with discounts and promotions, encouraged spending on clothing, footwear and outdoor DIY.

Discounts also helped to boost sales of televisions ahead of the World Cup, a tournament that should drive sales of other football merchandise in the coming weeks, Mr Robertson said.

However, he did caution that there was still “plenty of uncertainty, which is making consumers nervous about buying expensive goods.”

Source : BBC News

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Tesco has announced that chief executive Sir Terry Leahy is to retire from the supermarket chain next March.

Sir Terry has led the chain for 14 years and has overseen its rise to become the UK’s leading supermarket.

He is to be replaced by international and IT director Philip Clarke, who said he was “honoured and delighted” to succeed Sir Terry.

Sir Terry, who earned £5.2m last year, said he would retain a large shareholding in Tesco. Read more »

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Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting 500 jobs from its UK wealth management business, with the sword falling most heavily at the Queen’s banker Coutts & Co.

RBS will cut the jobs over the next three years as it replaces outdated technology with a more modern IT system. The redundancies bring to 23,100 the total number of roles which have been removed since RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in October 2008. Its headcount now stands at 160,000. Read more »

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