this is business live from bbc news, with sally bundock and ben thompson. germany's biggest trade union is threatening strike action unless employers meet its demands for a pay rise and an optional 28 hour working week. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 16th january. the metalworkers union is the most influential trade body in germany — the negotiations could set a precedent for a huge proportion of the country's workforce. we will be live in berlin for the latest. also in the programme.... the uk supermarket iceland says it plans to cut the use of plastic in its own brand products within the next five years. will others follow suit, and is this

idea impact how you shop? the trading day has got started in europe to a fairly good start, we will talk you through the winners and losers. taking on the big boys — we'll be speaking to the boss of a voice recognition company hoping to compete with the likes of google and amazon. we will speak to him later. as the supermarket chain iceland says it wa nts to ba n supermarket chain iceland says it wants to ban all product on its own brand products, we want to know if you can live without plastic and if it will change how you shop. just get in touch with us in the usual way, using the hashtag #bbcbizlive. a very packed programme as usual. a warm welcome to you. germany's biggest trade union has threatened to call for a 24—hour walkout as part of talks over pay and working conditions. ig metall represents the rights of 2.3 million workers in the industrial sector, but the negotiations are seen as a benchmark for how pay

is set in other areas of the german economy. the union has demanded a 6% increase in salaries and the option for a 28—hour working week for its members. for those who would like to do so. this would allow employees to look after young children or ageing relatives. and ig metall is also pushing for an additional allowance of 200 euro per month to help offset the loss in salary. with unemployment at record lows, german workers are in a strong position to negotiate for better pay and conditions. german productivity per hour — which is a key determinant of wages — is among the highest in the world, with countries like the uk and japan lagging way behind. damian mcguinness joins me live from berlin. nice to see you. running through

some of the details, whatjumps out at me is the productivity figure, the idea that german workers are more productive so even if they worked a few hours they would be on the same level as everybody else in europe? that is certainly what german workers would say. since 2003, and stuffed labour market reforms came through, we have seen a lot of wage restraint here, which is one of the reasons why productivity is so high. 0ver reasons why productivity is so high. over the last few years, the german economy has been firing on all cylinders, meaning we have had record exports and profits. now workers say it is time that wages went up in line with company profits. as sally quite rightly mentioned, workers feel in a strong position, pretty emboldened, partly bya position, pretty emboldened, partly by a strong economy but also because unemployment is so

so low. employers say they can't get enough workers, so workers know they are ina enough workers, so workers know they are in a strong position to put forward some quite ambitious demands. but that is also one reason why employers feel reticent about allowing workers to go for few hours, they say they already have difficulty getting the manpower in, thatis difficulty getting the manpower in, that is one of the problems germany will face going forward. they say they can't let workers... if large numbers of workers start working 28 hours instead of 35, some firms say they will struggle. can employers afford it? given they look like they are in a wallet —— a relatively weak position given everything you have outlined, the question is if they can afford it. profits are up, can they paid staff more? depends on each individual industry. some industries are doing really well, exports keep increasing every quarter, almost. but what this union actually wants, lots of it is in line with what the centre—left social democrats want in the new governing coalition, so

interestingly it is notjust one union saying this is what we want, it is lots of workers across the country who are not unionised. what is interesting about this particular trade union and this particular set of strike action is right to january is that if the employers say they will go for it, it will feed into the governing coalition negotiations, so it might end up that whether employers can afford it oi’ that whether employers can afford it or not, they will have to put forward at least some of these options for workers, such as an optional lower working hours per week, combined with lower pay, of course, but it is part of a whole debate in germany that because workers know there in a strong position because employment is so low, —— unemployment is so low, then the whole legal framework might change and employers might be forced to put forward some of these actions, whether they can afford it oi’ actions, whether they can afford it or not. there is pressure on employers to ask what many people would say would be a socially

responsible way to help workers struggling to combine a job and family commitments. thank you very much, damien mcgrane is in berlin, outlining what could bea is in berlin, outlining what could be a pretty fractious battle between employers and employees. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. thousands of small firms working for failed construction giant carillion are waiting to learn if they will be paid, amid growing fears some could close. carillion used an extensive network of sub—contractors and local suppliers, paying them almost £1 billion a year, according to its latest annual report. critics have stepped up calls for a review into the carillion crisis. british supermarket chain iceland has said it will eliminate or drastically reduce plastic packaging of all its own label products by the end of 2023. the move will effect more than a thousand own label products. iceland also said its research found that 80% of shoppers would endorse a supermarket‘s move to go plastic free. lots of you have been getting into

it about that and we will talk to you about that later. peshmerga getting in touch about that. and if you need to know what time it is, then head to geneva. the swiss watch industry is gathering there to showcase its latest creations, and we're talking mechanical watches here. but it can be a costly affair — one brands new "affordable range for the younger buyer" starts at $11,000. i have two! i thought so, one for each wrist! 0ne watch and the back—up watch. if you watch last week, you will know he needs a watch. i slept through my alarm. that was the tim and samantha show. speaking of expensive stuff... the surge in value of bitcoin over the past year has led authorities scrambling for ways to regulate it. last week, the south korean government hinted it may ban them altogether, but the decision hasn't gone down well with the public. leisha sa ntorelli can explain for us, she's in our asia business hub. it is particularly younger people, looking at the figures, who say they

wa nt to looking at the figures, who say they want to keep bitcoin? that is correct, a survey out from south korea last year shows that more than 60% of the bitcoin investors are actually aged 30 or longer. —— younger. so the south korean government is concerned about the crazy around crypto currencies. korea is a hotbed for that sort of currency. they are thinking about banning it to regulate the sector. but the government faces a very public backlash. south korea was my presidential office has received an online petition opposing these moves to regulate bitcoin ndidi crypto currencies —— south korea's presidential office. it has collected 200,000 presidential office. it has collected 200 , 000 signatures presidential office. it has collected 200,000 signatures very quickly, a threshold which will compel the south korean government to respond. bitcoin is very popular among young people in south korea. there is actually something called a

fed premium in south korea, because it trades at a higher price in this country. the great debates about crypto currencies is ongoing in many parts of the world. let's look at financial markets in asia. a mixed day, japan had a good session, as did hong kong at almost 296 session, as did hong kong at almost 2% at the close. the dow, there was no action on monday because of the one—day closure for the martin luther king jr day. lots of earnings to grab our attention this week. companies like goldman sachs are reporting. let's look at europe, a big mover in london, this is what we will talk about in more detail at a moment, and engineering contractor which carried out work by communion —— for korean is down by 10%. rail maintenance work. it has £i.6 million owed by kerry on and it had

future work worth around £2.5 million. —— it had £i.6 million. —— it had £1.6 million owed by carillion. uk inflation numbers are out, we will talk more about that. and samira hussain has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. us markets were closed on monday so there may be a lot of eye rubbing as people come off a three—day weekend. two companies reporting earnings on tuesday with knowing, citigroup is the fourth—largest bank by assets and its results are expected to show no gain in quarterly income, compared to same time last year. that is because its results will include some $20 billion of charges related to the new us tax law. also reporting can united health group. this will be interesting to watch given a tax reform has delivered a blow to the health care industry. united health is then treat ——

country's largest health insurer and a bellwether for the industry country's largest health insurer and a bellwetherfor the industry and it is expected to comment on the changing landscape of the market and layout plans on expanding business in the new year, giving rising the competition —— given rising competition. joining us is jane foley, senior currency strategist at rabobank. nice to see you. let's pick up on theissue nice to see you. let's pick up on the issue of carillion, the fallout is becoming quite clear. the ones that were gaining a potentially the rivals of carillion which could sleep in for contracts, the ones losing had joint ventures or were tied in some way to carillion. a tale of two halves? and lots of the ones losing were involved in pubs private sector contracts. these quys pubs private sector contracts. these guys will probably had to pick up the costs. sullo firm could be significantly out of pocket. the ones announced yesterday, that this is the case then, included balfour beatty and an infrastructure company

from scotland, he would have to come up from scotland, he would have to come up with potentially millions of pounds to keep the project going. those involved in government schemes, the government has given reassurance to the workers and said they will carry on being paid if they will carry on being paid if they are involved in building schools, hospitals and military installations etc. it is a tale of two halves. it is whether you can jump two halves. it is whether you can jump in and get extra business or you are a private contractor with a business relationship. two things grabbing attention is on the markets, the price of oil is edging up and up, closing on monday in london about $70 a barrel for the first time in three years. inflation numbers are right in the uk and energy prices have a big impact on inflation. talk as through your expectations? the high price of oil will affect not just the high price of oil will affect notjust uk the high price of oil will affect not just uk inflation the high price of oil will affect notjust uk inflation but inflation across the world, particularly company —— countries that import a lot of oil, like japan. inflation is being paid up, growth is that a really strong level,

strong growth in europe, japan, china, the us. the expectation is that that will carry on, lots of art is to do with commodities? if we have a country like china, the biggest consumer of commodities growing widely, commodity prices go up. there are lots of different issues. china is trying to close down some of its dirtiest coal mines. all rising, strong demand, how far can it go? we will wait and see. you will talk as do the iceland story, it is fascinating, the idea that the supermarket might try to ban plastic by 2023. for now, thank you. and still to come: forget typing. start talking. get that the right way round! with the boom in smart devices that you can talk to — we meet one firm that says it will also revolutionise the way we shop. you're with business live from bbc news. let's talk about some companies with

profits news out. greggs has met market expectations for the christmas period, with like—for like sales of 3% in the fourth quarter. —— like—for—like sales up 3%. the baker also announced it expects inflationary pressures to have a impact on its 2018 results. theo leggett is in our business newsroom with more. it feels like we talk about greg is quite a lot, have you a particular fondness for it? —— it feels like we talk about greggs quite a lot.|j prefer artisan bakers, but greggs is very popular and seems to be continuing with its growth plans. sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like terms just over 3%, sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like termsjust over 3%, 3.7% sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like terms just over 3%, 3.7% last year. investors are still looking at this and they do not seem quite able to digest the news. shares being up and down a little like a yo—yo, currently just over 1%. down a little like a yo—yo,

currentlyjust over 1%. it seems like fed is managing to maintain momentum, it is still opening stores and racking up sales despite the fa ct and racking up sales despite the fact that over the past year it says the cost of its ingredients have gone up. —— greggs is managing to maintain. employment costs have gone up. there have been pressures on the business. nevertheless, and despite the fact it has had to put up the prices of things like sausage rolls, it seems to continue growing in sales. it is the issue of disposable income, whether we trade up or down if we are feeling worse off in our pocket. greggs manages to sit in the middle? greggs tries to keep its sales down to a price. it had to put an extra five pence on a sausage roll. that was a big increase, something like 12%. so there are pressures on the business and at a

time inflation, incoming prices and prices for the products that it uses to make past tees, they have been going up. increases in the minimum wage, all of that puts pressure on the company, but for the moment, it seems to be weathering that pressure. theo, thank you very much indeed. a couple of movers on the ftse 100. a couple of movers on the ftse100. two blue stocks on the way down, rbs, shares down 2.2%ment again because of the carillion story. of course, it is one of the key lenders to the collapsed contractor, but also bp‘s shares are down a 1%. it announced additional charge on compensation for the deepwater horizon disaster. you're watching business live. our top story: germany's biggest trade union has threatened to call for a 24—hour walk—out as part of talks over pay and working conditions. ig metall represents the rights of 2.3 million workers in the industrial sector, but the negotiations are seen as a benchmark for how pay is set in other areas of the german economy.

now hands—free hasn't always been stress—free when it comes to computers and other electronics. more and more we're using our voices to control the devices we use everyday, but it's been decades in the making. in 1962, ibm unveiled its shoebox machine at the world's fair, which could understand 16 words spoken in english. the first example of voice recognition. now we have siri, alexa, google home, leading to 33 million voice activated devices in circulation. and every year that number is growing. but what if you don't want the amazons and googles to have your information? voysis is a voice recognition company that says it can offer bespoke voice services that aren't linked to the big web giants. dr peter cahill is founder and chief

executive of voysis. we are sort of getting used to the idea of being able to talk to devices, aren't we? at the moment they are run by apple and google and they are run by apple and google and they have a lot of data on us. what you're offering is something different? i think for businesses and retailers in particular, a lot of them are quite concerned about if the way things emerges the only way you can buy a product online is by talking to amazon then amazon can give you that product directly or they can control which retailer that product is going to come from. for any of the other major retailers out there, they want to have a voice alternative maybe it is via a smart speaker or maybe it is just on their mobile app or on their website. you we re

mobile app or on their website. you were telling me interesting statistics about amazon echo, it proves that people shop more and they spend more money which is what they spend more money which is what the amazons of this world want? amazon said they have more revenue via google echo than for prime accou nts via google echo than for prime accounts on average which is a very dramatic figure. normally these things take a long time to build, but it is an overnight change. your softwa re but it is an overnight change. your software would work with individual retailers so i can go on a website ofan retailers so i can go on a website of an individual retailer and talk to the website? absolutely. so you can still type in wh you want to do so, but from the retailers point of view, you would have a microphone icon, so it is not always listening to you, but when you talk to it, the eye that's powering this are aware of what products they sell and how people describe the products. maybe if you are on a website for a retailer and you tap the microphone icon, you can describe what you're

looking for. when you see search results you can say i want something like this, but maybe darker or bigger or cheaper, whatever. you can just interact with it in a more natural way which reduces friction. you're really focussing on us retailers because you have got a real interest from them because they wa nt to real interest from them because they want to compete with amazon there on a voice activation level, but not so much here or in other countries, why is that? i think the us what we have found is, certainly many of the biggest retailers in the world are in the us. he theyjust ahead of the game? i'm not sure i would phrase it as ahead. from a strategic point of view, for all of them amazon is their number one competitor, if they see amazon's voice figures growing ina see amazon's voice figures growing in a short time frrks a strategic point of view, they need to exploring it and understand it and deliver something compelling for their customers. it is interesting how you talk about having a nar

natural conversation. we start speaking in language that's not human. we start talking in stunted phrases, "alexia, do this."|j human. we start talking in stunted phrases, "alexia, do this." i would say natural language. i think, i don't think we need conversation from any of these applications just yet! if you canjust from any of these applications just yet! if you can just say what you're looking for and you don't want to have this back and forth and have a chat with it, but using natural language where we can be more descriptive. it is so interesting. come back and see us and let us know how it's going. dr peter cahill there. he is the founder of voysis. self—driving or autonomous cars have been a big focus for every major auto maker around the world. yogita limaye is at the detroit auto show and has been checking out what is on offer. this is a self driving vehicle

tested by forked to deliver pizzas. it looks like a normal car and those spinning things on the top are the sensors. i will take you around the car to see what the car is actually seeing. that little red dot there behind the car, that's me. so that's what the car is seeing so it can make decision on where to turn, whether to stop, whether it can accelerate and ford is not the only car maker that's talking about cars like this. pretty much everyone at the auto show is and they are investing money into research and development. the government does play a key role, how will they regulate it? we had the transport secretary of the us government here yesterday saying they don't want to have a command and control approach. so, saying they don't want to interfere with innovation, but of course, safety is a big concern for them. but also very much saying that them. but also very much saying that the onus is on car companies to make people feel confident about vehicles like these. general motors made a request to the

us government to allow them to put this vehicle on the roads as early as next year. no steering wheel or pedals. but many other car makers think the world's not ready for that just yet. these advances in technology are coming at us faster than we had ever imagined so the question facing governments and indeed, facing all of us are we ready to concede control to machines and software? well, some of us, and some of us aren't! i'm not. he is. jane is back. we are going to talk about iceland and its ambition to rid itself of plastic packaging by 2023. yes. this is on its own products. it has other products. one of the interesting things which doesn't surprise me at all and things which doesn't surprise me at alland i'm sure things which doesn't surprise me at all and i'm sure it doesn't surprise your audience, 80% of its customers

think it is a good idea. this has been noticeable in recent years. people are tired of plastic around cucumbers. people are tired of huge amounts of recycling in the street and one thing that annoys me, given this is a good idea to cut down on the packaging is we have been so slow to do it. one of the catalyst in theresa may's speech about cutting down plastic waste is that china, of course, has been recently refusing to take a lot of our plastic recycling. course a lot gets exported to china to be recycled. we have build—ups at our recycling sites. a lot will have to be burnt and go into landfill and that's not good for our environment. finally action has been taken, but i think it's a bit slow. some will say it has been easy, just ship the problem somewhere else. a viewer says, " everyone somewhere else. a viewer says, "everyone can somewhere else. a viewer says, " everyone can live somewhere else. a viewer says, "everyone can live without plastic. we are making a problem." mark says, "a great start. i would love to do

my weekly shop without having to ta ke my weekly shop without having to take home a load of plastic." another viewer said, "iceland didn't give an option to have shopping delivered without plastic bags." jean says, "of course, we can live without plastic. we're here, aren't we, after millions of years without plastic." a good point. do you think it is enough to make people change their habits? i think the 25 pence on the coffee cups is making people think, do we really want to pay the 25 pence ? do think, do we really want to pay the 25 pence? do we want plastic in our ocean? it is a slow burn. thanks, jane. thank you for your company. we will see you tomorrow. bye—bye. a very good morning to you. the

weather is looking pretty messy over the coming days. we do have some snow in the forecast as well. not surprisingly really we are in much colder air and we do have strong northerly winds really taking the edge of the temperatures. so not surprisingly it is a cold day with mixture of sunshine and wintry showers as well. most likely to fall as snow across northern ireland, scotland, and northern parts of england. further south and east, the best of the drier and brighter conditions as we head on into the afternoon. so, the risk of ice across scotland and northern ireland this afternoon as we will continue with those snow showers, feeling bitterly cold in the north—westerly winds. more snow showers continuing across northern parts of england too. for wales most likely on the hills. some drier interludes across the south east. the winds making it feel bitterly cold and those showers continuing across devon and cornwall

with temperatures around five celsius. just to give you an idea of how it's going to feel out there, the temperatures today will range between two to nine celsius, but factor in the wind, it will more like minus fouror factor in the wind, it will more like minus four or minus five celsius. tomorrow, we have another day of sunshine and wintry showers. strong north—westerly winds, but the showers will tend to ease as we head on into the afternoon. more in the way of sunshine compared to today. feeling less cold with temperatures three to eight celsius. then it is all eyes on wednesday night and into thursday. we have this area of low pressure making its way in from the west, bringing with it strong to gale force winds, a band of rain, sleet and snow. so first thing on thursday morning, there could be some difficult driving conditions. potentially there could be trees down or power lines down as well. so keep an eye on the forecast and keep listening to your local station for the latest update as to what is

going to happen first thing on thursday morning. there is the storm. going through on thursday. behind it gradually the winds will ease. there will be some sunny spells. the remp tures will range between three to about 11 celsius. as we head towards the end of the week, more in the way of dry conditions, but feeling bitterly cold as we head into the weekend. there is some sunshine on offer. hello. it's tuesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme our top story today — police in california have rescued 13 brothers and sisters from a house, where some of them were chained to their beds. here alison hits, from 29 22—macro, just captive. malnourished and filthy, it is heartbreaking. —— here are some kids, from the age of 29 to two. their parents have been arrested and charged with torture and child endangerment. we'll bring you the full story this morning. how common are fake degrees? more

than 3000 bogus qualifications were bought in britain alone from one company in pakistan. plus this horrific experience does not define me, i am much more