Stars leave Oppenheimer premiere as Hollywood actors' strike called - BBC

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By Bernd Debusmann Jr

BBC News

The Screen Actors Guild has gone on strike, marking the start of the largest shutdown Hollywood has seen in 40 years.

The union wants streaming giants to agree to a fairer split of profits and better working conditions.

The strike means that 160,000 performers will stop work immediately.

Stars Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt left the Oppenheimer premiere as the strike began, according to director Christopher Nolan.

The union is also asking for a guarantee that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used to replace actors.

On Wednesday, the union - officially known as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA - announced that it was unable to come to an agreement with major studios.

The breakdown of talks prompted the negotiating committee to vote unanimously to recommend strike action.

The group representing the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, said that "a strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life".

"The union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry," its statement added.

• What happens next as Hollywood grinds to a halt

Fran Drescher, SAG's president, said that the organisation's strike comes at a "very seminal moment" for actors working in the industry.

"What's happening to us is happening across all field of labour by means of when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run," she added. "We have a problem".

A separate strike by the Writers Guild of America demanding better pay and working conditions has been going since 2 May. Some writers have turned to writing projects that are not covered by the contract between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The "double strike" by both unions is the first since 1960, when the SAG was headed by actor and former US President Ronald Reagan. The last strike by actors took place in 1980.

A third union, the Directors Guild of America, successfully negotiated a contract in June and will not participate.

The beginning of the strike will mean that a vast majority of US film and TV productions will be forced to stop, adding to a list of projects that have already shut down or stalled because of the writer's strike.

Top Hollywood stars will also not be able to attend events to promote new and upcoming releases. Events including the Emmys and the upcoming Comic-Con may be rescheduled or scaled back.

Several top Hollywood stars have expressed their support for a strike, including Barbie actor Margot Robbie, Meryl Streep and Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson.

Related Topics

• United States
• Strike action

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2023-07-13 19:25:04Z
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Teachers to end strike as Sunak boosts public pay – but doctors dig in - The Independent

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Teachers are poised to end months of strikes after Rishi Sunak announced pay rises of up to 7 per cent for millions of public sector workers – but doctors show no sign of calling off their action.

Teachers have been offered a 6.5 per cent rise and junior doctors 6 per cent, plus an additional £1,250.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) said the below-inflation offer was “exactly why so many doctors (feel) they have no option but to take industrial action”.

As the longest walkout in NHS history got underway, the prime minister told all unions his offer was final and implored doctors to “do the right thing and know when to say yes”.

Downing Street said it would not borrow more money or increase taxes to fund the more than £2bn needed this year to fund the pay rises.

Mr Sunak said more than £1bn would be found by “significantly” raising fees for migrants’ visa applications and access to the NHS.

But roughly the same amount will be found through “reprioritisation” – raising the prospect of cuts. However, it is understood this will be cross-government, removing pressure on individual departments, like education, to find the money for pay rises for teachers.

For her part, education secretary Gillian Keegan promised there would be no cuts to frontline education services.

Ben Zaranko, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, warned that wage increases would eventually require cuts to public budgets; that prompted the BMA to accuse the government of making “ordinary people sicker and poorer”.

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham said the pay offer would place staff under new pressure and predicted: “I think we’ll be seeing a new wave of industrial action.”

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Sunak said he would accept the recommendations of all the government’s independent pay review bodies; other rises include 7 per cent for police and prison officers, 6 per cent for dentists and NHS consultants, and 5 per cent for members of the armed forces.

He admitted that his announcement would “cost all of you as taxpayers more than we had budgeted for”.

He added: “That’s why the decision has been difficult, and why it has taken time to decide the right course of action. I can confirm today that we are accepting the headline recommendations of the pay review bodies in full, but we will not fund them by borrowing more or increasing your taxes.”

Ministers are struggling to fight persistent high inflation at the same time as bringing to an end to industrial action by groups including doctors.

But BMA chair of council Professor Phil Banfield said the government “missed a huge opportunity to put a credible proposal on the table to end strikes”.

He said consultants “remain willing to talk” but the offer means “they are likely to continue to take industrial action”.

Treasury minister John Glen told the Commons the pay award for teachers “will be fully funded”. As part of reprioritising budgets, the Ministry of Defence will recruit fewer civil servants.

But unions said the decision to fund some of the rises by drawing on departmental budgets was the wrong approach.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of civil service union Prospect, said: “For a prime minister and chancellor who came into office promising economic stability, the chaotic handling of this process will inspire little confidence in workers worried about their futures during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

“The fact that they are taking a knife to public services to pay for these pay rises signals that they have learned nothing from the austerity years.”

Experts warned the education and health budgets could still face cuts worth billions of pounds, even with frontline services protected.

Mr Zaranko said: “At this point, we can’t say with any certainty where the funding for higher pay rises will come from, although Rishi Sunak has made clear that it will not come from increased borrowing or higher taxes. In the short-term, some could come from under-spends in other parts of the budget, but that’s not a permanent solution.”

He said extra revenue through higher charges for visa applications and for non-British nationals using the NHS would be “unlikely to cover all of the additional cost”. Without rises in borrowing or tax the move will “eventually require either a smaller public sector workforce, or cuts to some other aspect of public service budgets”.

Praxis, which supports migrants and refugees, said that raising “already eye-wateringly high” visa fees risks seeing people fall “deeper into poverty and insecurity”. Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, policy and public affairs manager, said migrants in the UK pay some of the highest costs in Europe.

Mr Sunak has promised to halve inflation – to 5 per cent – this year. But the CPI inflation is running at 8.7 per cent, amid fears pay increases are fuelling a wage-price spiral. Official figures released just hours before the announcement also showed the UK economy contracted in May. Ministers hope the decision not to borrow to fund the pay rises will minimise the impact of the decision on inflation.

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2023-07-13 18:40:53Z
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Two teenagers jailed for boy’s mistaken-identity murder in Wolverhampton - The Guardian

Two teenage boys have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 16-year-old in a case of mistaken identity.

Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, who are both 17 and can be named for the first time, were involved in a stabbing attack on Ronan Kanda. They set upon him from behind as he walked to a friend’s house to buy a PlayStation controller in Wolverhampton last year.

Ronan, who had just finished his GCSEs, died yards from his home when the knife pierced his heart. Veadhesa and Shergill had intended to attack one of Ronan’s friends in a dispute about an unpaid debt, the jury at Wolverhampton crown court was told.

Veadhasa was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years while Shergill, who was found to have acted in joint enterprise for the murder, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years.

On the day of the attack, Veadhasa had collected a ninja sword set and a large machete he had bought online, the court heard.

Before Veadhesa and Shergill were sentenced, the judge Mr Justice Choudhury lifted reporting restrictions that had previously prevented their names from being made public.

Ronan’s family, who were in the courtroom wearing “Justice for Ronan” T-shirts, sobbed as the teenager’s father, Chander, read a tribute to his “beautiful boy”. Veadhesa and Shergill, wearing black suits and ties, sat next to each other in the dock listening to proceedings.

Chander Kanda said: “Ronan was not only my son – he was my world, my friend and the soul of our family. He was the one that would make us laugh and realise that life is what you make it and enjoy our precious time on earth as a family.”

Ronan’s mother, Pooja, told the court she replayed the last time she saw her son alive every day in her mind. “I have lost a lifetime of dreams, hopes and ambitions. He was the son that every mother needs,” she said.

Addressing her son’s killers, she said: “Your evil actions have taken my son’s life.” She added: “With this I have lost a lifetime of dreams, plans, hopes and wishes. Nothing on this earth will satisfy my maternal desire to hold my son in my arms.”

The jury took two hours to convict the pair after a five-week trial.

DI Ade George, of the West Midlands homicide unit, who led the investigation, said: “The pain of losing a child is immeasurable but to also know that he was not the intended target adds a whole new layer of grief and I cannot begin to imagine the sorrow Ronan’s family feel.

“There are no winners when knives remain on our streets and we will continue to crack down on those who think it’s acceptable to carry them.”

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2023-07-13 19:07:00Z
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Sunak considers plans to give public sector workers 6pc pay rises - The Telegraph

Rishi Sunak will on Thursday be presented with plans to give a million public sector workers a pay rise of around six per cent as he juggles avoiding more strikes and his pledge to halve inflation.

The Prime Minister and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, will meet to reach a final decision on recommendations from each of the public sector pay review bodies.

Salaries for public sector teachers, health consultants, junior doctors, prison service workers, policemen and the Armed Forces are expected to be announced on Thursday.

While each pay body has proposed its own figures, the average recommended rise for 2023/24 is understood to be around six per cent – far above the 3.5 per first suggested by the Treasury. That would mean around an extra £3 billion in public spending.

A 6.5 per cent pay rise has been recommended for teachers, and a six per cent rise for health consultants.

Mr Hunt has refused to cover any extra increases with more borrowing, arguing that could fuel inflation. It means departments have been scrambling to find savings elsewhere in their budgets.

0907 record inflation

On Wednesday night, Downing Street and Treasury insiders insisted no final decision had been taken, with Mr Sunak yet to make up his mind after flying back from a Nato summit on Wednesday.

It is possible that he could agree to accept pay review recommendations across the board, accept some and reject others or agree to lower rises across the board. On Wednesday, there was growing expectation in Whitehall that many recommendations would be accepted.

Going against pay review recommendations would be politically challenging for Mr Sunak, given that he has repeatedly defended the process to counter demands from striking workers.

Treasury economists are said to have concluded that six per cent pay rises will not fuel inflation if they are funded within existing departmental budgets, not by new borrowing.

Mr Sunak has said halving inflation this year is his number one priority, but it has been made more challenging as high prices prove to be more sticky than predicted.

Meanwhile, hospital bosses have warned that doctors’ strikes are all but wiping out the ability of the NHS to clear the Covid backlog.

As junior doctors begin the longest walk-out in health service history on Thursday, hospital leaders have said the chaos of repeated industrial action is fatally undermining their efforts to bear down on waiting lists.

They also suggested Mr Sunak will have little chance of meeting his key pledge to reduce waiting times if the situation continues into the autumn.

The five-day junior doctors’ walkout will be followed next Thursday by a two-day strike by consultants and a 48-hour walkout by radiographers at approximately a fifth of trusts on July 25.

Mass teachers’ strikes loom in the autumn term. On Wednesday, the NASUWT teaching union announced that it had secured a mandate for industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The NEU, the NAHT school leaders’ union and the Association of School and College Leaders are also balloting members in England on industrial action, with their votes closing at the end of this month.

Mr Sunak said on Wednesday he would balance “fairness” with “responsiblity” as he decided how to approach public sector pay.

The Prime Minister told a press conference in Lithuania: “I am absolutely laser focused on delivering for the British people. Their priorities are my priorities.

“Halving inflation, because that’s the best way that we can ease the burden on them and the cost of living, cutting waiting lists, because it’s wrong that people have to wait as long as they are currently, and about stopping the boats because that’s about simple fairness.”

Meanwhile Mr Hunt used an interview on ITV’s Peston programme to double down on the insistence that borrowing would not be used to fund any pay rises. 

He said: “If you fund any public sector pay rise by increasing borrowing that year, that pumps billions of pounds of extra money into the economy.”

The Chancellor also played down the likelihood of tax cuts any time soon, saying: “People who want tax cuts, as I and every Conservative does, want to put more money in people’s pockets. And the quickest way that I can put money into people’s pockets, and actually quite a large sum of money, is to halve inflation.”

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2023-07-12 23:18:00Z
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Junior doctors begin longest strike yet in England - BBC

ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

By Michelle Roberts

Digital health editor

Junior doctors in England will begin their longest walkout yet today, in protest over pay.

They say the government's refusal to talk ahead of the five-day strike is "baffling" and "frustrating".

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said doctors' 35% pay demand was "unreasonable" and the strike puts patient safety at risk.

Thousands of planned appointments are being postponed, as emergency and urgent care are prioritised.

The strike starts at 07:00 on Thursday 13 July and ends at 07:00 on Tuesday 18 July.

NHS England said anyone who needs care during the strike should use 999 or A&E in a life-threatening emergency and - for more minor health concerns - contact NHS 111 online or go to the nearest pharmacy.

People will be contacted if their appointment has to be rescheduled. GP and community appointments are unlikely to be affected.

NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said the health service was "entering an incredibly busy, disruptive period" and staff were doing all they can to maintain services and address a record backlog of patients waiting for appointments or treatment.

More than 600,000 NHS appointments in England have already been cancelled or postponed due to strikes by doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in recent months.

'Horrendous pain is like a hot volcano in my knee'

Richard McKenzie, a marketing manager from Berkshire, is in constant pain waiting for an operation for a new knee which was scheduled for today, but has been postponed because of the strike.

"The pain is like having a hot volcano in your knee and somebody sticks hot needles into the hot volcano. It's horrendous," he says.

"It means you can't sleep, you can't rest - and I can't think either," he says. "Or I have to take such a large load of painkillers that I can't think anyway."

He said his situation is "completely" affecting his life: "When you're in pain all the time you get crabby, it affects relationships, it affects how you work, it makes you snappy. It's always there and you can't get away from it."

Richard is not confident his operation will happen on the rescheduled date in a few weeks time either.

And he's worried about the impact of constant delays on his work, which requires regular travel to Germany.

Why are doctors striking?

Junior doctors say pay rises they've received for the last 15 years have been below inflation, and a 35% pay increase is now needed to make up for that.

The British Medical Association (BMA) union, which represents doctors, said a government offer of a 5% pay rise was not "credible".

Some 86% of British Medical Association members backed the latest walkouts, which are the fourth strike by junior doctors in England since the pay dispute began.

Junior doctors make up around half of all hospital doctors in England and a quarter of all doctors working in GP surgeries. The BMA represents more than 46,000 junior doctors in the UK.

Meanwhile, planned strikes by junior doctors in Scotland this week were called off after a new pay deal was offered - a 17.5% increase over two years.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said the pay demand of 35% by junior doctors in England "risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer".

"If the BMA shows willingness to move significantly from their current pay demands and cancels these damaging and disruptive strikes, we can get around the table to find a fair deal to resolve this dispute," he said.

The BMA junior doctors' committee urged the government to "reassess their entrenched position" and get back to talks.

More senior doctors - consultants - who are filling in to provide emergency care during this strike, will be going on strike themselves on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 July.

Consultants will be providing what is being described as "Christmas Day cover" - emergency care will be provided, along with a very limited amount of routine work.

Apart from strikes, hospitals have faced other challenges to get back to full capacity since Covid hit. These include staffing shortages, more emergency patients and problems discharging patients because of the lack of care in the community.

More than 7.3 million people are on the waiting list at the moment - nearly three million more than before the pandemic.

One in 20 has been waiting more than a year - although the NHS has got close to eliminating waits of more than 18 months.

Radiographers, who carry out scans on patients, have agreed to strike over pay in some parts of England this month too.

Are you a doctor with a view on the strike? Are you a patient affected? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

Related Topics

• Doctors
• British Medical Association (BMA)
• Strike action

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2023-07-12 23:09:59Z
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Fury over austerity threat as Hunt rules out extra money for public sector pay rises - The Independent

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Jeremy Hunt has been warned by union bosses not to impose another round of damaging austerity cuts on frontline services after saying there would be no extra money to fund 6 per cent pay rises in the public sector.

The chancellor is ruling out extra cash if Rishi Sunak agrees to the pay hikes recommended by independent pay review bodies – sparking fears of swingeing cuts across departments.

But furious union leaders told The Independent that “burnt-out” public sector workers were already quitting over low pay – leaving the NHS and schools struggling to provide basic services.

Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said the government appeared to be threatening to give staff “a half-decent pay rise” only “if underfunded departments like health and education make further cuts to public services”.

She added: “They want us to think that the choice is between the devil and the deep blue sea. This is simply not true. If the government wanted to, it could well afford to pay public sector workers properly, while maintaining and indeed improving funding for schools and hospitals.”

Prof Philip Banfield, British Medical Association (BMA) council chair, said: “Talking about staff pay and frontline services as if they are distinct from each another is a complete fallacy.”

He added: “Staff are leaving because they are not being paid properly or fairly. Without staff, and particularly the expertise of our doctors, the NHS cannot provide frontline services – after all, you need pilots to fly planes.”

Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are still considering whether to accept the recommendations of pay review bodies to offer millions of workers rises of around 6 per cent or risk further rows with unions by rejecting the suggestions on the grounds of affordability.

Reports in The Times suggest the review bodies have recommended that teachers should receive a 6.5 per cent pay rise for 2023-24, while police officers, prison officers and junior doctors should all get 6 per cent or more – all at a potential cost in excess of £5bn.

Sunak and Hunt set to decide on public sector pay

(Downing Street)

Mr Hunt raised the prospect of departments making cuts elsewhere when he ruled out borrowing at his Mansion House speech on Monday. Mr Hunt told ITV’s Peston on Wednesday that the government “won’t fund any public sector pay awards through additional borrowing”.

Warning of the inflationary impact, the chancellor told the programme: “If you fund any public sector pay rise by increasing borrowing that year, that pumps billions of pounds of extra money into the economy.”

But PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka said civil servants need “both a pay rise and investment in their departmental budgets” to provide “the quality of service expected by the public”.

He added: “Cuts to wages and to departmental budgets will have the opposite effect, leading to fewer staff and worse services. Rather than peddling the myth that wage rises cause inflation, Jeremy Hunt should give our members the pay rise they deserve without cutting the services they provide.”

Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, said teachers and NHS hospitals and social care staff were being “driven away” by low pay. “They are burnt-out, underpaid and cannot take it anymore. And all of us who depend on these services are suffering as a result.”

He added: “The government must come forward with a credible funding plan to protect our public services and the staff who work in them.”

Unison’s general secretary Christina McAnea said it “makes no sense to expect the cost of pay rises to come from existing budgets. Without extra funding, there’ll be even greater cuts and pressure on services. That helps no one.”

Striking teachers take part in a National Education Union (NEU) rally

Final decisions on the pay review are expected within days, with Mr Sunak warning that “we all live within budgets” and he had to take a “responsible” approach to the public finances and the wider economic picture.

Speaking to reporters accompanying him on his visit to the Nato summit in Vilnius, Mr Sunak said: “We all live within budgets … Everyone can see the economic context that we’re in with inflation where it is – borrowing costs for government, not just in the UK but across the world, are rising.

“We need to look at that context and then decide what is the right thing to do. That is not always easy but that is what being responsible looks like, and that is why we will take the time to get this right.”

Mr Hunt told a dinner event on Tuesday night that Mr Sunak could offer his “next five” pledges before the next election because the government is confident on delivering the five big promises set out in January.

“We’ll be able to say to them you can listen to us – because we delivered the last five, and here are the next five, and we’re a party that delivers,” he told the Onward think tank.

Shadow cabinet minister Lisa Nandy refused to say whether a Labour government would accept the pay review body recommendations in full.

The shadow housing secretary said: “We haven’t seen them all and we would obviously look at them carefully. In the end it is for governments to decide, though.”

She added: “We want a much greater focus on retention and recruitment in the pay review body recommendations, because we think that is becoming the major problem and it isn’t just a question of wages for public sector workers, there’s also the problem of workload.”

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2023-07-12 20:12:35Z
2225355061

Public sector pay: Government weigh up 6.5% increase - BBC

PA Media

By Ione Wells & Sam Francis

Political correspondent

The government is considering pay increases of between 6%-6.5% for public sector workers, the BBC understands.

Official pay review bodies for employees including teachers, junior doctors and police have recommended the pay rise. Inflation to May was 8.7%.

The prime minister and chancellor are expected to meet this week or next to decide whether to accept the rises.

Government sources have told the BBC any rises over 3.5% would need to come out of existing departmental budgets.

There have been reports the Cabinet is split over what to do next. Several cabinet ministers, including the health secretary and education secretary, have pushed internally for the review bodies' recommendations to be accepted, according to the Times.

Mr Sunak says pay awards should be "responsible" to avoid making inflation worse. He has made tackling rising prices his top political priority.

Ministers have had the recommendations from pay review bodies for weeks.

The BBC has been told that all of the independent bodies, which cover a range of jobs, have all recommended pay rises of between 6% and 6.5% percent for public sector workers.

A decision not to accept the recommendations would prompt fresh tensions with unions, raising the prospect of continuing public-sector strikes.

• Who is striking and what pay do they want?
• What can Rishi Sunak do to tackle inflation?
• Are pay review bodies completely independent?

Submissions from departments to the pay review bodies said they could only afford rises around 3.5% from within their own budgets.

But it's expected the PM and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will tell ministers any awards higher than this will have to be funded through cuts or savings elsewhere in their own departments.

Mr Hunt ruled out funding pay rises with government borrowing, during an interview on ITV1'S Peston.

Increasing public sector pay through borrowing would "pump billions of pounds of extra money into the economy" leading to businesses "putting up their prices" and driving further inflation.

In a speech to leading figures from finance and business at the Mansion House this week, he said: "Borrowing is itself inflationary."

It comes at a time when businesses, as well as households, are being hit by higher costs due to inflation remaining stubbornly high in the UK.

PA Media

Speaking at a news conference at the Nato summit in Lithuania, Mr Sunak said his decision about pay would be guided by "fairness" to public sector workers and taxpayers, as well as "responsibility".

He said he didn't want to do anything that would "fuel inflation, make it worse or last for longer".

Speaking on Monday during a visit to Avon and Somerset police force, Home Secretary Suella Braverman would not answer directly whether the government should abide by recommendations on public sector pay.

Praising police officers, she said: "They do incredibly heroic work, day in, day out, and they save lives and it's right that we properly reward them for their sacrifice and their dedication.

"We know that there's an ongoing process - it is a decision for the whole of government.

"I don't want to pre-empt that process and the conclusions of that consideration, but it's right that we properly reward frontline police officers and bear in mind that we're in a very challenging situation, economically."

Taxing decisions

Mr Sunak has previously pledged to halve inflation this year to about 5%, as part of his top five priorities since becoming prime minister.

The rate at which prices are rising remained unchanged at 8.7% in May, despite predictions it would fall.

Persistent inflation levels would make it hard to cut taxes before the next election, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in an interview with the Financial Times.

But Mr Sunak said he and the Chancellor were "completely united on wanting to reduce taxes for people".

"But the number one priority right now is to reduce inflation and be responsible with government borrowing," he added.

What are pay bodies?

Almost half of public sector workers are covered by pay review bodies, including police and prison officers, the armed forces, doctors, dentists and teachers.

The pay review bodies are made up of economists and experts on human resources, with experience in both the public and private sector and are appointed by the relevant government department.

Their recommendations are not legally binding, meaning the government can choose to reject or partially ignore the advice, but it is usually accepted.

Some agreements have been reached, including a pay settlement for more than a million NHS staff in England.

Related Topics

• Rishi Sunak
• Strike action

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2023-07-12 15:37:49Z
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