France more than doubles crisis package cost to 100 billion euros

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Les Echos newspaper that the government now expected its crisis package to cost 100 billion euros ($108.6 billion) – over 4% of GDP and up from expectations of 45 billion euros less than a month ago.”These numbers could yet change as the economic situation and companies’ need of support is changing fast. We’re going all out to save our companies,” Le Maire said.

The overall bill is likely to rise even more as the government has yet to put a cost on bailouts for big companies like Air France KLM that Le Maire says is in the works.The immediate cost of the economic fallout from the outbreak has spiralled since President Emmanuel Macron pledged to save lives, jobs and companies “no matter what its costs”.The government will present its second upda…

H&M taking steps to improve working conditions of workers

“The work is at the top of our agenda and we stay true to our collaborative approach and methodical way of working, making it possible to take important steps forward,” H&M said.The group facilitates dialogue between the employers and the employees at the factories and in the labour market in the countries where its products are made. This is fundamental to be able to improve working conditions, including wages, it said and added 290 factories are enrolled in the workplace dialogue and industrial relations programmes while more than 370,000 factory workers are directly covered by democratically elected worker representation through its programmes run in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia and India.

“In 2018, the goal is to have democratically elected worker representativ…