the former boss of volkswagen appears in court. after being found to have raked emissions tests. dozens of hotel workers in the us are on strike as the demand better pay and conditions. and working from home, why are london employees lacking behind other global cities in the number of days worked back in the office? hello and welcome to business today. the former boss of volkswagen has appeared in court today charged with fraud, market manipulation and forgery, nine years after the manipulating official emissions checks, manipulation that manipulating official emissions checks, manipulation and market manipulation and forgery, nine years after the car—maker was found to have car—maker was found to have raked emissions tests. he was raked emissions tests. he was the chief executive of the the chief executive of the german company back in 2015 german company back in 2015 when it was engulfed in a when it was engulfed in a scandal that sent shock waves scandal that sent shock waves throughout the entire industry. it emerged that the company had throughout the entire industry. it emerged that the company had been deliberately been deliberately

manipulating official emissions manipulating official emissions checks, building cars that checks, building cars that could pass laboratory tests whilst producing illegal levels of pollution in daily use. mr winterkorn denies the charges. tell us more about the trial itself. , ., ., , tell us more about the trial itself. , . , ., itself. this trial has been a lona itself. this trial has been a long time _ itself. this trial has been a long time coming - itself. this trial has been a long time coming and - itself. this trial has been a long time coming and part| itself. this trial has been a i long time coming and part of that was because of the health of him, he is 77 and has a number of health issues and he was supposed to take the stand two years ago along with some otherformer two years ago along with some other former volkswagen executives. didn't do so because he was considered to be too ill, but there has been a lot of pressure to get him to take the stance of people are held accountable for what was one of the biggest corporate scandals in germany of all time. it started in the early years of the century when volkswagen was trying to sell cars in the united states. it wanted to sell diesel cars and it was selling them as clean diesels. the problem was the

engines it had available were not that clean and the only way they could meet stringent us emissions tests was by having their performance effectively turned down and that affected their reliability, to engineers within volkswagen came up with this trick, a piece of software that would turn on emissions controls when the cars are being tested and turn them off again when they were being used on the open road. all of this started in 2006, it came to light in 2015. there was a massive scandal. it cost martin winterkorn hisjob massive scandal. it cost martin winterkorn his job at the time, now he faces a possible penalty of up to ten years in prison. this all happening as the car—maker is also

giant company but it is facing competition on two fronts, first of all china, one of its biggest export markets, one of its most lucrative export markets is facing competition from domestic manufacturing, and it its home markets in europe, already a crowded sector, it is facing competition for electric cars on income is from china. and chinese benefactors have burnt and cost advantages. it is cheaper to produce cars in china than in europe. that is why we are seeing the european union introduced tariffs on electric cars, and so something has to give. volkswagen has tried to cut costs without closing factories, without getting rid of too manyjobs. that has not worked. now he is looking to do something more radical. fin looking to do something more radical. �* , ., ' i: i: i: i: radical. an estimated 10,000 hotel workers _ radical. an estimated 10,000 hotel workers have _ radical. an estimated 10,000 hotel workers have been - radical. an estimated 10,000 hotel workers have been on l hotel workers have been on strike since sunday in several cities across the united states after contract talks stalled with major hotel operators, marriott international, hilton

worldwide and hyatt hotels. the striker is taking place as industry saw a 9% increase in labour day weekend domestic travel compared to last year, thatis travel compared to last year, that is according to data from triple a. staff are demanding wage increases and the reversal of pandemic erect cutbacks that impose, what they say, a painful working conditions. michelle fleury joins painful working conditions. michelle fleuryjoins us now. what is the economic hit going to be with these strikes? as you point out, there are 10,000 hotel workers across the country from her way to many parts of the country, all affecting a certain number of changes. the affected hotels have remained open, but as you can imagine, there is an impact on the experience that guests will have, whether it comes to housekeeping, laundry services, the speed of room service, that is the kind of area. what is

interesting is over the weekend we heard from the boss of unite, the union behind many of these strikes say that during covid everyone suffered, but that many hotels have not restored standard services that guests deserve and workers are not making enough to support theirfamilies. they not making enough to support their families. they complain this is coming at a time when these hotel chains are enjoying record profits, so they are saying that is why they have called this strike, and because they called it and it took awhile to ratify it, it could further before it ends. more widely. how significant do you think the labour unions will be in the upcoming presidential race? i in the upcoming presidential race? ~ , ., ., race? i think pivotal. here we are talking — race? i think pivotal. here we are talking about _ race? i think pivotal. here we are talking about strike - race? i think pivotal. here wej are talking about strike action today, over the labor day weekend, which is of a cd that is meant to celebrate workers in america. it comes after we

have heard from one of the presidential candidates kamala harris on the democratic side saying that she actually doesn't want to see a japanese takeover of an american steel company, something echoed by donald trump. these efforts to try and quote union workers. i think in part, there are a couple of reasons. one, coming out of covid we have seen a resurgence of labour activity and i think both presidential candidates have tried to tap into that energy, because typically labour unions are good at turning out their members, and both potential candidates want their votes come november. the other thing to bear in mind in all of this is that we have seen a record amount of inequality over decades, and i think that is why this is an issue that has amazed the profile of unions in amazed the profile of unions in a way that perhaps we haven't seenin a way that perhaps we haven't seen in past presidential campaigns. figs seen in past presidential campaigns-_ seen in past presidential campaigns. seen in past presidential camaians. r . ~' campaigns. as ever, thank you very much _ campaigns. as ever, thank you very much indeed. _

campaigns. as ever, thank you very much indeed. global- campaigns. as ever, thank you | very much indeed. global cities have all seen a strong and steady return to the office since the end of the covid pandemic, but london has experienced slower progress than some of its larger rivals, thatis than some of its larger rivals, that is according to research that is according to research that was published today by the centre for cities. this is an organisation that is independent, nonpartisan and it is basically dedicated to research and policy ideas aimed at improving the economies of cities and those larger towns. let me take you through some of those figures. top spot goes to paris. 3.5 days i spent in the office. singapore, 3.2 days, followed by new york, you would have thought enoch would be slightly higher, but there you have it. —— new york. look at london. full—time workers by comparison only managed 2.7 days per week in the office. my still low for the uk capital? a

question i put to paul sweeney, the director of policy and research at the centre for cities. ~ ~ . ~ ., research at the centre for cities. ~ ~ ., cities. we think back to may and june _ cities. we think back to may and june 2020 _ cities. we think back to may and june 2020 when - cities. we think back to may and june 2020 when we - cities. we think back to may | and june 2020 when we were cities. we think back to may - and june 2020 when we were in lockdown, all of these predictions that the office was dead, we would never go back to work, and yet where we fast forward to be are today, we are now back in the centre of london, so that is from pretty much zero up to 2.7, but if you look at comparisons of other global cities, london is a little bit behind, i think there are a couple of batches for that, one is that older workers in central london do not come in as as workers elsewhere. and secondly there is a big drop off on a friday in london than what we see elsewhere. i think the key challenge is there that we are going to see that further increase in more people in the office is about addressing those two combined issues, you could also argue that bosses and employers do could also argue that bosses and employers— could also argue that bosses and employers do not want to rock the boat _ and employers do not want to rock the boat because - and employers do not want to rock the boat because many l and employers do not want to | rock the boat because many of the other cities have actually

made the return to the office a mandate. is that an element as well, that buses do not want to upset their employees in case they say i am out of here? it has been really interesting what we have seen around this and the sssaaavvveee we showed on this. mandates have tightened in london, almost all employees in the centre of london do work for a company that has a mandate in place, but it isn'tjust the mandates that have brought people back. we asked employees about what they thought the benefits of they thought the benefits of the office wear, only 5% said it wasn't a benefit of being in the office comments employees do want to come back. there is an interesting mismatch between employers and employees, someone we asked employers why they would not increase the mandates further, at least 30% of employers said we don't want to do that because we would lose our staff. if you are staff themselves if employers increase the mandate, what would you do? a much smaller

share of staff said they would resign. i think there is this belief they would be mass walk—outs, but in reality, our server suggested that wouldn't happen. i server suggested that wouldn't ha en. . ., server suggested that wouldn't hauen. . ., ., happen. i want to get to the benefits of _ happen. i want to get to the benefits of going _ happen. i want to get to the benefits of going back - happen. i want to get to the benefits of going back to - happen. i want to get to the | benefits of going back to the office. we hear a lot about the gig economy and hybrid working. this is the future. why does it matter that london workers get themselves back into the office, why does it matter? it is the value of face—to—face interaction. when we asked both employers and employees what they thought the biggest benefits were, they were to do with communication with colleagues, with collaboration with colleagues, building strong relationships with colleagues as well. and technology like xoom and teams are great, they may be pandemic much easier than what it otherwise would have been, but they are not quite as good at allowing people to connect with each other, not as good as facilitating random conversations. they are the

types of things i think we lose when we are not in the same room together. that is the real benefit of office working, and where we have seen this return to date. . . , . where we have seen this return to date. . ., , ., ,, , to date. that was paul sweeney. a cuick to date. that was paul sweeney. a quick look _ to date. that was paul sweeney. a quick look at _ to date. that was paul sweeney. a quick look at some _ to date. that was paul sweeney. a quick look at some other - a quick look at some other news. new zealand has announced it is almost tripling its entry fees for foreign tourists prompting criticism from the country's tourism industry association, which fears the move will deter visitors, the government said its tourist levy would rise next month from 22 to 62 us dollars. like many global tourism hotspots, new zealand has struggled with the impact of large numbers visitors with international entry fees first introduced in the country back in 2019. cathay pacific has identified 15 of its airbus jets as needing new engine parts. the operator grounded 48 of its planes on monday after one was forced to return to hong kong

shortly after take—off. when a part of the rolls—royce engine failed, dozens of other flights were cancelled. without identifying the specific part cathay pacific said it was the first time it had failed worldwide. adding that its engineering team would have all aircraft prepared and cleared for operation by saturday. they have time for the markets? a quick look. basically many of the key indices are retreating and that is because most of the markets around the world are all waiting on those key us labourfigures. you can see all waiting on those key us labour figures. you can see the ftse in london is down, and the dow is also done in the us significantly. those big numbers, thursday and friday, and as ever we will bring them to you here.