hello, this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. president macron faces the wrath of french workers — its biggest union launches strike action today bringing disruption across the country. action today bringing live from london, that's our top story on tuesday the 12th of september. deja vu? the protests in france are against the president's moves to reform the labour market, making it easier to sack workers and water down collective bargaining. we get an expert view on whether macron will succeed when hollande and sarkozy tried and failed. also in the programme: the un slaps fresh sanctions on north korea, in a bid to starve the country of income for its nuclear weapons programme. we'll be live in

seoulfor reaction. and markets are still looking on the bright side — we had a fresh record high on wall street and in europe the euphoria continues, but for how long? and we hearfrom a brazilian cosmetics giant calling on the government to do more to protect the amazon, and we find out why it's bought one of britain's best known high street brands. as the frankfurt motor show gets under way, with electric vehicles taking centre stage, we want to know: what's the one thing holding you back from making the switch? what's stopping you going electric? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. many of you have been in touch already. get your views in about electric, are you plugging in or not? we want to know. let's start

with france. france is braced for mass strikes and protests today mainly about president macron‘s controversial plans to reform french labour laws. let's fill you in on some detail. here's what you need to know: the reforms aim to make it easier for medium and small size businesses to sack workers. trade union collective bargaining will also be watered down, and firms with fewer than 20 staff will be able to negotiate directly with individual employees, instead of a union branch. the reforms are aimed at boosting growth in europe's third biggest economy. in the three months to the end of june the economy grew byjust 0.5%. france also has a stubbornly high unemployment rate — currently around 9.5% of the workforce, or roughly 3 million people. that compares with a figure of 4.3% across the border in germany. the strike has been called by france's biggest trade union, the cgt. other major french unions representing workers in sectors like health care, education, and transportation have also asked their members to join the industrial action. it's worth noting that the protests

will overlap with an unrelated strike by air france pilots. ben, over to you. thank you. laurent clavel is head of macroeconomic research at axa investment managers in paris. laurent, a very good morning to you. welcome to business live. sally was talking us through some of the issues there but i am interested first of all that there is not necessarily unity as far as the unions are concerned. they are not all calling for these strikes? very right. all working unions showed their disappointment with the contents their disappointment with the co nte nts of their disappointment with the contents of reform. one of the biggest one is an uproar reform working union historically in france, the cfdt, said they were

deeply disappointed. fo, fairly centre working union, i would say, sometimes siding with the reform, sometimes siding with the reform, sometimes not, they said they were worried and that they would keep monitoring the development, but altogether both those working unions did not call for the strike and specifically said they would not go to the street today against the labour market reforms. so it is really down to cgt, which is very against reforms in general. they even called for today's protest before the text of the reform was made public. that is the view of the unions then. i am interested made public. that is the view of the unions then. iam interested in made public. that is the view of the unions then. i am interested in the view of workers more generally. looking at the recent studies, if you look at the package of reforms overall, on the whole they are unpopular with voters, but then if you start looking at the individual issues, whether tidying up the rules on hiring and firing, making it easier to do so, there is a bit more

support, so actually it comes down to individual measures that mr macron is proposing, and those in themselves have quite a lot of support? indeed. i think themselves have quite a lot of support? indeed. ithink you themselves have quite a lot of support? indeed. i think you strike a very good point here, that possibly there are measures that are more favourable to younger workers, may be less so to older people. there are some measures that are specifically targeted for small and medium—sized enterprises. altogether the package, as i said, probably strikes the right balance in what is a cce pta ble strikes the right balance in what is acceptable for the general public in france. those typically seen in the fa ct france. those typically seen in the fact that there is not that much disruption at this stage. i came to your studio by train them by underground. most of the underground and trains are running. the tgv is running ioo%. it is probably also because of the context of the

reform, which is very different from previously under crazy don't hollande. and also because of the languages —— previously under president hollie —— hollande. interesting, to see which businesses will benefit, but also an attempt to reform the labour laws in france. there is also lots on this story on the business live page, including a tweet from simon calder, who as you will also travel and works with price tag and others. he talks about the rail strike in france —— he works with us and others. keep up—to—date with those details on the website. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... about 6.5 million homes in florida, two—thirds of the total, are without power after hurricane irma cut a deadly path through the state. analysts have cut their estimates of the total cost, but still expect it to run to tens

of billions of dollars. experts say the storm is likely to have the biggest long—term economic impact in the caribbean. the bid to remove the uk from eu law in time for brexit has passed its first parliamentary test. british mps backed the eu withdrawal bill by 326 votes to 290 despite critics warning that it represented a "power grab" by ministers. critics' concerns centre on ministers giving themselves the power to make changes to laws during this process without consulting mps. and volkswagen, the world's biggest car—maker, will offer an electric version of all of its 300 models by 2030, becoming the latest manufacturer to move away from petrol and diesel. vw says it will also double investment in zero—emission vehicles to $24 billion as it seeks to put the test rigging scandal behind it. the frankfurt motor show is getting under way today,

with electric vehicles and brexit the two hot topics. so bmw has been showing off its latest and greatest models. we'll talk more about electric later in the programme, but first theo leggett caught up with the chief executive of bmw and asked him how the firm is planning to deal with brexit. the details, mainly to do with the cost, how far you can charge the cable from your house, and also how far those cars can go, that is what you are talking to us about, but first, theo leggett asking how the firm bmw is dealing with brexit... bmw is invested in free trade, and free trade between european countries is important, to be competitive. we don't need any high barriers, tariff barriers, between them, and we also need free movement

of people between the uk and europe, so of people between the uk and europe, so there are certain things which we need to achieve to make the business is safe for the future in the uk. this is something we talked openly with the politicians in the united kingdom other, as well as in the european union. that is fine if it all goes well. but what if it doesn't, what if there are tariffs? world that put british production in jeopardy? we are long-term orientated. you have to look at the framework and how the conditions will develop, but i am sure there will develop, but i am sure there will be a pragmatic solution. i hope that it will happen, because both sides need that, otherwise nobody will benefit. moving on... the united nations has imposed a fresh round of sanctions on north korea after its sixth and largest nuclear test. the measures will restrict oil imports and ban textile exports. yogita limaye is in seoul. it is interesting, isn't it, they

would not sure whether they would get agreement, but finally these tougher sanctions will be imposed? that's right, and textiles are a major export for north korea so that is significant. if you look at what is significant. if you look at what is happening on the oilfront, it is what the us was demanding, a com plete what the us was demanding, a complete embargo on oil, which has no imposed a oil on oil being sold to north korea. as far as restrictions on workers from north korea working abroad to make money for the country. this is after very strong sanctions were put on the country banning exports such as coal, the biggest export from the country, and that was expected to reduce its founding by about $1 billion but it has not stopped testing. the outcome depends on two things, first to north korea can withstand this economic pressure, and secondly how i did sanctions implemented by all the countries involved, particularly china, because that is north korea's ‘s

biggest trade partner. china says that until now it has fully implemented un sanctions, but it has to walk a fine line because it does not want a fairly nuclear north korea but it also does not want political instability in the country. thank you. markets are reacting to that story. and also to the hurricane irma story. you can see them on wall street, the dow up a percent, and hong kong just down slightly but japan up overa hong kong just down slightly but japan up over a percent. it is all those issues, people seeing the more positive side, spin on the situation with north korea, and irma for now. let's have a look at you look to see how today is progressing. gains across the board, on top of the 1% in these markets made at the close on monday. looking ahead to the day on monday. looking ahead to the day on wall street, of course, lots of

big events, not least apple. and samira has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. the us labour market will launch its labour turnover survey for the month ofjuly. thesejob labour turnover survey for the month ofjuly. these job openings are really a measure of how much demand there is for labour, or workers. in there is for labour, or workers. in the previous month demand rose to just over 6 million, but the big news for tuesday has to do with a little—known company out in california. clearly, ijest. apple is expected to unveil its highly anticipated new iphone numeric date, iphone 8+ dart—mac apple is hoping the number eight‘s auspicious connotations in china will help turn around the country's fortunes in the world's biggest smartphone market after there have been six consecutive quarters of falling

sales there. and we will be speaking a lot more about the apple releases tomorrow on the programme. maike currie is investment director, fidelity international. good morning. some stuff bubbling around, the same sort of stories all week, hasn't it? north korea and a bit of oil. should we start with the wider markets. they are back up again. it makes a change given events we have seen again. it makes a change given events we have seen in north korea that really worried the investor. that's right. what is interesting is this market keeps climbing higher and we have seen rises across the board despite the threat of nuclear warfare, despite all the natural disasters, and i think thisjust reiterates that markets climb a wall of worry, at —— bull markets climb war of of worry, at —— bull markets climb warof —— wall of of worry, at —— bull markets climb war of —— wall of worry. because of the deep scars there is still money sitting on the sidelines, in cash and bonds, and as long as that money goes into the stock market it will still go higher, but then the

counter argument is that the market is looking longer in the tooth and there is a case to be made to have some money in cash. today we have got inflation figures coming out in the uk and then of course we have the uk and then of course we have the bank of england meeting on thursday. what are your thoughts? very interesting, because we saw inflation injuly very interesting, because we saw inflation in july above very interesting, because we saw inflation injuly above the target rate of inflation of 2%, it was 2.6%. you need a little inflation for the economy to grow. the reason why why inflation is slightly higher is because of the weakening sterling, making our imports more expensive, but that will fall soon enough. the thing central banks are grappling with in most of the developed world, the lack of inflation. climbing a wall of worry, i like that turn of phrase! i will use that. thank you. you will be back to top us through some of the paper is a little later. still to come, we hear from a brazilian cosmetics giant calling on the government to do more

to protect the amazon, and we find out why it's bought one of britain's best known high street brands. you may know it. stay tuned and we will let you know a little later. you're with business live from bbc news. we talked about the issue of climbing a wall of worry. it was the event that kicked off the financial crisis — the collapse of northern rock. ten years on, steph‘s in newcastle where the bank was based to see how it affected the region. hello. it's an absolutely glorious morning here on the river tyne. of course you can see the famous landmarks of tyne bridge there. hundreds of thousands of people running across that on sunday, of course, for the great north run, but it was here that the home of northern rock was. so it was headquartered here.

the bank which ten years ago this week got into financial difficulty we found out. i was one of the team working behind the scenes on breaking that story that northern rock had actually gone to the bank of england to get money, to get help and it was that which then led to the famous pictures you saw of people queuing outside of the bank because people were worried, they were worried about whether they were going to get their money out of this bank and around about £1 billion worth of money was taken out of the bank in those few days after we broke that story. of course, since then, well, it started the credit crunch in the uk. we saw how banks across the uk were worrying about how much money they actually had. it meant that the lending between banks tightened up and essentially froze and there was a real sense of concern about what this would all mean for the banking systemment ten years on, of course, the regulation has changed around this. we have seen the banks have to have more money in their coffers to actually make sure that this

couldn't happen again. but for this area, for this city, which was home to northern rock, at its peak employing 6,000 people, it really hit hard when that bank collapsed. so, i'll leave you with the view of the wonder flour mill which is now the art gallery and of course, northern rock to this place still means an awful lot. that was steph mcgovern in newcastle for us. a story that's interesting on the business live page. the prime minister, theresa may, has phoned donald trump. why? well, a row about boeing and bombardier jobs. donald trump. why? well, a row about boeing and bombardierjobs. the canadian firm bombardier won an order to supply 125 passengerjets to delta, but they are made in belfast, but boeing has complained that the deal was unfairly subsidised. if you want to know more, check out the website. you're watching business live. our top story, france is braced

for mass strikes and protests today over president macron‘s controversial plans to reform french labour laws. a quick look at how markets are faring. 48 minutes of trade here in london and you can see as we discussed earlier given the wall of worry as our markets guest this morning has described it, markets are still climbing it. some of the geopolitical issues that were worrying them easing somewhat, but it will be interesting to see what the sanctions with north korea do. time for the inside track — and today we're looking at the business of beauty. from mascara to moisturiser, it's a booming industry which sells nearly $450 billion worth of products every year. that's just for sally. indeed,

that's just for me! one business which helped drive major change is the body shop. founded in 1976, it built its reputation on providing ethical products from sustainable sources. in 2006, it was bought by l'oreal and this raised a few eyebrows among environmental campaigners who were concerned that the world's largest cosmetics company would prioritise earnings over ethics. now the body shop is under new ownership. it has just been bought by brazil's largest beauty company natura. the deal creates a huge multi—national with 3,200 shops in 69 countries and over 18,000 workers. the bbc‘s daniel gallas met with guilherme leal, one of the founders of natura and asked him why the firm has had its eye on bodyshop. we have dreamt a lot about going to the world. we have this connection with sustainability. with ingredients from the amazon and we need a platform to go abroad with natura and the body shop.

what can european consumers expect from the body shop now? we want to reassure the commitments of no animal testing, vegetable ingredients, no harmful ingredients that can harm the health and things like that. you're often seen as a business that does a good job with sustainable use of the amazon. do you think brazil is using the amazon wisely? no, i think that we could improve a lot the way that you take care and take advantage of the amazon. it's a global asset. i think that avoid deforestation and improve the sustainable use as we do. it's a huge opportunity for the development of brazil. in my personal view, one of the pillars of the future

is using its natural assets in a wise way. in a wiser way than we do now adays. if brazil produces food in a wise way, conserving nature and biodiversity, we will be one of the feeders of the whole world in the future. you ran for vice—president of brazil back in 2010 as part of the green party, but eventually you left politics. what was that experience like? yes, it was a very interesting experience. tough, but interesting. i went through this adventure aiming to bring to the agenda the question of sustainability, the question of the issue of sustainable development. i think we did something in this direction. it's my first and last experience

at the front—line of politics. but i am still involved because i think that each of us must be involved. mike is back. this is a story in the new york times. clearly people are evacuating from the hurricane. tesla tests the car battery during irma. how does it work? it is interesting. certain models have the capacity to go further, but you have to pay for that. tesla have unlocked the

capacity so people could drive an extra 30 miles should they need to and the response to this has been mixed. one half of the population is saying well this is great. tesla is thinking out of the box. it's very helpful and also very savvy pr move. the other argument is well, what does this mean for security if tesla can remotely access our cars and change things? if you want to go further, the capacity is there, but you have to pay more. it is like buying a car, you pay extra for the extras? in life and death scenario, does that mean those who can pay have an unfair advantage. does that mean those who can pay have an unfair advantagem does that mean those who can pay have an unfair advantage. if it is there, it should be standard on the model. a lot of people getting in touch and thank you for your m essa 9 es touch and thank you for your messages this morning. simon says it

is about infrastructure. james says i won't go fully electric until there are more charging points and public charging points don't cost a fortune. a lot of people talking about the range, how far your car will be able to drive on one charge. a lot of people are saying it is about price. susan says, "it is about price. susan says, "it is about money. i can't afford to replace my second—hand yaris and she put hashtag austerity." ." replace my second—hand yaris and she put hashtag austerity."fl what's your thinking on electric vehicles? i need to remember to charge my mobile phone first! i can't take the risk with a car. i think it is great. i think that elon musk is a forward thinker. a fellow south african. the issue is where will i be able to charge it? if i go to

other parts of the uk, in london, there is lots of charging ports. they are visible, in other cities and in the countryside. there is a term for that. it is called, "range anxiety. " the worry term for that. it is called, "range anxiety." the worry that you won't be able to drive too far and where is the next charging point? yes, climbing the wall of fear! climbing the wall of worry. and range anxiety. two terms this morning! not that we want to fill you with fear this morning. no, we're happy, sharing, caring crowd this morning on the tenth anniversary of the colla pse on the tenth anniversary of the collapse of northern rock. thank you for your company. we're back tomorrow with more business live. stay in touch with us. yes, thank you for your company. we will see you for your company. we will see you very soon. bye—bye. good morning. we're going to see some disruptive weather across parts

of the uk over the next 2a hours. at the moment it is sitting out in the atlantic. it is this mass of cloud that's slowly moving its way in for, but for many of us, a decent start to the day. there is sunshine out there this morning. a few showers dotted around western areas, but by the afternoon those showers drifting their way towards the east. showers not as heavy or as thundery or as frequent as they were yesterday, but as we go into the afternoon we will see the crowd increasing with outbreaks of rain and more persistent rain moving its way into western scotland and certainly into northern ireland. the wind starting to pick up here as well. the rain moving its way into wales. this is at apm. but for most of england and wales, we are looking at sunny spells and the odd shower dotted around. the cloud increasing and by this stage rain moving its way into the isles of scilly, but it is through this evening that that rain will continue to move east ward, it will continue to move east ward, it will turn heavy for some. all associated with this area of low

pressure. it is is a deep area of low pressure for so early in the autumn. the white lines become tightly packed so indicating a strengthening wind. so through tonight, we could see gales and perhaps even severe gales in parts of the uk. so disruption is possible as we go into the early hours of wednesday morning. now the strongest winds will be across the north and the west of england, west wales and the west of england, west wales and the english channel, 60mph gusts here, through the night, # 5mph gusts around wales. southern portions of northern england and eastern england. that will clear away as we go through wednesday and into the afternoon on wednesday, well, breezy, not as windy with sunshine and a few showers. that area of low pressure finally clears off into the near continent and as it moves away, high pressure building in the west and what we get isa building in the west and what we get is a northerly wind and that means it will start to feel a bit chilly as we go through thursday especially down the eastern coast of england and eastern scotland. still breezy

here. temperatures 13, 1a celsius. elsewhere, temperatures down by a little bit, 1a elsewhere, temperatures down by a little bit, 14 to 17 celsius, but there should be sunshine and a few showers. going knee saturday, should be looking dry. it will be sunny spells. and temperatures at about 18 celsius. that's it from me. bye—bye. hello, it's tuesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. our top story today — brext is a step closer after a bill which transfers thousands of eu laws and regulations into uk legislation has passed its first hurdle. i will not support this bill because it threatens a fundamental principle of british democracy, namely parliament dart—mac of british democracy, namely parliament dart-mac if i have an opportunity to support a government bill that says european union withdrawal bill, then i will support it tonight and i hope other members

do, because what it does is it ends the european union legislation and control over this house when we leave. we'll talk to mps who voted for and against the bill.