Business Extra

Bonus boost UNION leader Sharon Graham called for a windfall tax on UK banks after NatWest’s CEO Alison Rose received £5.2 million (€5.9 million) in pay. The bank recently reported its largest profits since 2007, increasing its bonus pool from from last year’s £298 million (€338.4) to £367 million (€416.8). 

Leaving home THE Basque region’s autonomous government is making plans to introduce payments of €300 in 2024 to assist the emancipation and independence of the 25 to 29 age group.  The grant will be limited to those earning less than €28,000 a year, announced regional president Iñigo Urkullu.

Get online THE cost of living continued to strain household budgets, pushing people into digital exclusion, warned Baroness Stowell, chairwoman of the Lords Digital Committee. Ending this exclusion could generate £13.7 billion (€15.5 billion) in economic benefits over 10 years while costing only £1.4 billion (€1.6 billion).

Backpay time ELDERLY women could receive nearly £1.5 billion (€1.7 billion) in state pension arrears, the UK government admitted. Former Pensions minister Steve Webb agreed some women’s payments were not increased when their husbands reached retirement age or died, or when they themselves reached 80.

Fewer hours A BANK OF SPAIN analysis of the country’s working hours concluded that although these had partly returned to normal following the pandemic, employees in most sectors worked fewer hours than in 2019.  The only except were agricultural workers and those in the property sector.

On the scent SPAIN is the EU’s second most-affected country regarding counterfeit perfumes and cosmetics, losing 16 per cent of genuine sales amounting to €1 billion each year, revealed Spain’s National Perfumer and Cosmetics Association (Stampa).  As well damaging the firms’ reputations, the fakes also destroyed an annual 8,000 job, Stampa said.

 Strike off THE Inditex retail clothing chain has agreed to pay a fixed minimum salary of between €18,000 and €24,500 a year to all employees, the majority of them women, who work in their shops.  The wages pact, described as “historic”, arrived only hours before a strike was due to begin.

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