Private sector investment strike continues

The UK’s biggest companies have increased the piles of cash on their balance sheets by more than £40bn since the start of the financial crisis - enough to cut the UK’s annual deficit by a third - reports City AM:
http://www.cityam.com/article/1379300284/top-companies-add-40bn-cash-mountain?utm_source=website&utm_medium=TD_news_headlines_right_col&utm_campaign=TD_news_headlines_right_col

Return the utilities to public ownership

Sick and tired of reading about the super profits of the big six energy companies? Sign the petition which calls for the renationalisation of water, gas and electricity utilities:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42114
http://usilive.org/bigsix

Where Have All The Wages Gone?

A new TUC report examines the reduced share of wages in the UK national income over the last 35 years. Data from the Office for National Statistics show that between 1977 and 2008 the wage share fell from 59 per cent of national income to 53 per cent, while the share of profits in national income rose from 25 per cent to 29 per cent. If wages had kept pace with growth in overall UK output between 1980 and 2010, median annual earnings for full-time workers would now be around £7,000 higher than they actually are:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/466/Where_Have%20_All_The_Wages_Gone.pdf

Outsourcing & Austerity - a recipe for crisis in the Third Sector

On Friday a conference organised by the TUC, UNISON, UNITE and representatives of Civil Society organisations, National Association of Voluntary and Community Action, (NAVCA), and National Coalition for Independent Action (NCIA), heard first hand reports on the devastating impact of the government's austerity measures and legislative programme on charities, voluntary organisations, and public services
http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-21501-f0.cfm

The rapidly changing world of work

A new study by the McKinsey Global Institute confirms the remarkable expansion taking place in the global workforce. In 2010 the number of workers worldwide was 2.9bn compared to 1.7bn in 1980. By 2030 the total will have risen to 3.5bn with China and India being the main centres of economic development. Pressures on workers' living standards in advanced (western) economies will continue to intensify - between 1980 and 2010 workers' share of overall income fell by 7% - a result of rising corporate profits and declining wages - leading to growing income and wealth inequality:
http://www.economist.com/node/21556974

PFI Firms told to hand back profits

The influential Commons Public Accounts Committee is calling for Companies making excessive profits from Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals to hand back a share to councils, health authorities and other public bodies. The Telegraph reports that under PFI, taxpayers are committed to pay £229 billion for new hospitals, schools and other projects with a capital value of just £56 billion: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9239282/PFI-firms-should-be-forced-to-share-excessive-profits-with-councils-and-health-trusts.html

Academies are Tory Trojan Horses

Excellent analysis of the profit motive which is driving the growth of academies and the decline of public education in the UK, by Trevor Fisher writing on the New Statesman blog. 'Academies and free schools are Trojan Horses exploited by the right of the Conservative Party. It is far from likely that they deliver better educational outcomes in the majority of cases. But they will deliver guaranteed profits as they have done in Sweden and the USA.'  http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/03/free-schools-profit-education