Flexible working practices for all?

The new coalition government today announced plans to allow all employees the right to request flexible working hours. At the moment, parents of children up to 16 (or 18 if they are disabled) and carers for disabled adults are allowed to request flexible working patterns. Employers must give serious consideration to any requests but can turn them down for sound business reasons.

Ultimately, following consultation with business, the government would like to extend the right to all workers. The plans, unlikely to come into law during this parliament, have been met with a mixed response - negatively from the British Chambers of Commerce and positively from the TUC.

Best of luck S4 Business Management!

Best of luck to my S4 Business Management class who are sitting their Intermediate exams tomorrow. You have been a pleasure to teach over the last two years and have worked really hard for these exams. Make sure you go in and do yourself proud!

Couple of last minute tips!

• Read the question carefully!
• Remember the command words
• Make your writing readable
• And remember to bring a couple of pens!!!

US Airlines & Continental Airlines merge

United Airlines and Continental Airlines have agreed a merger which will create the world's biggest airline. It will be called United Airlines but the new branding will be a combination of both airline's current colours.

Both companies are currently making losses but expect to make savings of more than $1 billion a year following the $3.2 billion deal. The merger has been described as a "merger of equals" although United Airlines will be seen as the dominant partner. Between them, they fly to 370 destinations and fly 144 million passengers a year. They currently employ a total of 86,000 people and experts believe redundancies will be inevitable as the new company aim to cut costs. Shared IT and maximising the use of the fleet are also expected to deliver cost-savings.

The merger has to be agreed by shareholders and competition regulators and unions will also need to agree to the deal.