retailers hope for big holiday sales and brace for returns. what happens to that unwanted gifts when it goes back to the store? the blowing welcome to the show, thousands of british ambulance drivers were expected to walk off the job wednesday, joining an estimated 10000 nurses who began striking the day before and adding to the unprecedented pressure on the british health care system. unions point out that record inflation has eaten into employ wages for nurses that's made an already difficult job, even harder. emily laid shes one of thousands of nurses in london who was going on strike for the 1st time in her life. her demands school way beyond higher wages and tide of covenant, working at being understaffed. you know and got many colleagues, her mental health is suffering. patients are suffering and i want to see a change is sent him and shared by her colleagues who've walked out of st. thomas hospital, the union,

the royal college of nursing is calling for better pay it once wages to be raised 5 percent above retail inflation. that would amount to a 19 percent hike. the nurses union also want the government to fill a record number of staff, vacancies, $50000.00 in total. it says you don't go into nursing for the money. could you guarantee kathy or patients? i feel like we're all at right employed. it's a similar situation across britain. here in liverpool nurses say they are overworked and underpaid, but recession had britain cannot afford to match the nurses unions demands. the government says previously i'm on a nurses wage. if you wanted to sell, it looks ways you would work about shift all over time. i thought now that i'm having to wait on shifts and oversight just to make ends meet and it's fairly difficult. people are not managing. we've got a few pies set up in our church that nurses and all the staff members that happened

to that existing to feed the families love. it's not enough. it's not a back in london, ordinary car drivers, a honking to show support for the nurses demands for better pay when inflation is factored in. real wages for nurses dropped 1.2 percent annually between 20102017. according to the u. k. base charity health foundation, nurses are unlikely to drop their demands amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. ah, dickie price is chief economic adviser for the center for economics and business research and london. vicki, thanks for joining the show. i'm struck by the nurse. we just heard was heard, who said that the shifts she wants worked to have more pocket cash for luxury items

or whatever she wanted to buy. she now needs to work there just to get by. is this becoming a more typical story across the u. k. what it is and what we're seeing, of course, that inflation like in other countries, has increased out of sort of anyone's expectations pocket because of course, the war in ukraine and wages have not kept up with that. and what's going on, of course, across the economy is that a real house with disposable income are declining the declining but something like 2.7 percent. if you look at wages themselves. so this when the one hand you go, these are the costs and tax increases that everyone is suffering from at present. but you've also got cost a wage is not keeping up with inflation. if you look particularly in the public sector, which is in a where of course the nurses that we just heard work for. and what you've seen is that they have like behind the private sector itself. so they've been rising for something like 2.7 to point 9 percent over the last year. when inflation of course

is over 10 percent. the private sector is done slightly better. what we're seeing there is that they're getting increases of over 6 percent. it's still not enough, of course to make up for that gap in, in real earnings. but nevertheless, there is a gap between private and public sector which has been increasing recently. and is one of the largest that we have seen in ages of a give also read somewhere that you can still suffering from the great recession that occurred more than a decade ago. would you say that's true, especially when you look at these public sector wages? well yes, i mean we, we had the financial crisis and of course you k was affected by that quite significantly by comparison to other countries, given very strong financial sector that we had and still have actually what he had meant. of course, in terms of what the government did to rectify flag situation was enter into big austerity program. that was there to program through the decade that followed meant that a lot of spending on planning services was kept in real terms. and we are suffering

in the national health service right now from those cuts. so it is an issue. and of course the pay is not kept up with inflation anyway during that period when those cuts were taking place. and that's one of the grievances if you like that are set to work is now have that they have fallen. so behind that the increases they're asking for now, which look unmanageable by government are to make up for all the doses they've had all these years. to what extent, if any, is briggs that also playing a role in these crises that we're seeing when it comes to wages when it comes to rising prices? well, that's interesting because effectors different sectors in different ways. so if you look at the economy across the whole sort of area where particularly you workers where very important, what you find is that there are sectors which have suffered quite significantly because of the exit. if you like, of people who were part of the labor force,

but decided partly after covey, but also because it breaks it not to come back all. now find it difficult to get back and work in the u. k. so there was be done in the sector retail, wholesale, quite a large part of construction in london in particular, was banned by you workers. that has been a source of ass shortages if you like, which have been seen both in the private sector. the areas that i mentioned, but also in the public sector, nurses for example. so we have head and conditions getting worse for the energy because not only do you have an increased demand because of coverage through and everything else we've seen in the last few months and last couple of years. but also you have a shortage of people, which means that working conditions for the nurses and everyone who works in the national service have worse. and also they claim and is part of what they're asking for. they want to change in the way in which, you know, everything is organized, but you want to ask primitive to richness. we're not saying that the best way to

help nurses and everyone else is to reduce inflation as quickly as possible. he also said that inflation will make people poor in the long run. that's not true, but what policy options does downing street really have to address briefly if you can? yes. well, they could raise taxes in those ways and, and pay for more of those to increase it. but it's absolutely true that inflation is an issue or needs to be dealt with and, and people are feeling quite a much poorer because of what's going on. and we've seen that they have been keeping up spending, but just deeper into that savings. so that's a problem. there's no doubt that inflation is, is bad news. but in terms of nurses and the public sector, in particular, you could raise their salaries without having a direct impact on inflation because you're not going to increase the cost of the energy has to individuals. so you can raise your prices is not as if you're talking about other parts of the economy, where perhaps, you know, been producers could have passed it all on to the consumers. you are in

a public sector. yes. so the wage barrel coming from the public service increases in, in, in that pay is likely to be a lot more less than in the privacy except in areas like grave strikes. for example, the railway workers where you could in fact see transports as go up. but overall, they're much less inflationary that would otherwise be the case while to leave it there. for now, vicki price center for economics of business research in london. thank you very much. you and we go now to some of the other global business stories making headlines. $100000.00 i t specialists have left russia this year. that's according to the minister for digital development in moscow. the started the war in february and the mobilization in september, each triggered waves of departures. the majority have fled to neighboring countries including georgia or mania. and cars extent to avoid the draft. u. s. regulators have ordered banking giant wells fargo to pay $3700000000.00 in fines and customer refunds. it's the largest find the consumer finance regulator has ever slap on

a bank. wells fargo has spent years dealing with a series of scandals tied to its sales practices. my twitter, c, e o u r must says that he will step down from his position as soon as he finds replacement, or in his words someone foolish enough to take on the job. a majority respondents to which were to pull posted by musk, said that the billionaire, c e o should hit the road or the holiday season here and across much of the world for retailers, that means big sales, hopefully. but also returns and refunds and exchanges are nothing new for many businesses. but online retail has changed the way that many people shop and in turn, the way they return. what is wrong with this washing machine, or these mattresses, or any of these large furniture items? well, that's objective. all these items were returned by customers and sent to this huge

storage facility in the german city of lune. by just one online retailer. it turns out online shoppers have all sorts of reasons for returning purchases and couldn't afford her. i'm her one customer wanted to order a freezer, but accidentally ordered 4, so 3 of them were sent back. that's one example of product wars or large tv screen . some customers ordered them without realizing how big they really are. and then they find out they don't have enough room for the gun. forrester, every return, no matter how big or heavy has to be unwrapped and checked. was there any damage? are there any dense or scratches or most returned goods can be resold. online furniture store, home 24 has open showrooms, where customers can sit down and get a feel for the product before buying it. and the machine is them. i find it

difficult when you're at home in your living room. and you're just looking at furniture on a computer screen. it's hard to imagine what the pieces really like. sometimes you just like to see it before you buy it and i think and i'm shown at home 247 percent of all purchases are returned. that's pretty good, says the company for fashion retail as it can be up to a half of all items, a major problem and not just for cost about he now it is not in his out there. there's also environmental side to the equation but very important each richer and has a carbon footprint. we have to pick up everything from wrap and pack it up. i have, i have to move goods, women from barbara and lag aberdeen. this return facility in luna has received less furniture since the company started sending fabric samples before customers ordered online. the firm is also working with manufacturers and advising on changes to packaging to prevent damage. while the holiday season will keep them busy, they are hoping for fewer returns next year. here's

a reminder of our, our business story. thousands of british ambulance drivers were expected to walk off the job wednesday, joining an estimated 10000 nurses who began striking the day before and adding to be unprecedented pressure on the british health care system. unions point out the record, inflation has even into employee wages. right, that's it for me and visiting here in berlin, we'll be back later with more headlines. the meantime, check us out on youtube. were under the deed of the news channel. you can also find us online at w dot com slash business, which watching with awe. with

me, i'm more precise than you. i'm stronger and faster and more efficient and cheaper. your favorite products could be made for less money. eli musk. thanks our thanks to you. one day, i see that you're not convinced. let's talk about it. made in germany. in 30 minutes on d, w o. in. she's up to date. don't miss our highlights. the d w program on line d,

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already subscribed. now t d w documentary ah ah, this is dw news alive from burly ukraine's president vladimir zalinski on his way to the united states. it is the 1st time he's left ukraine since russia invaded in february. he's due to meet president biden and addressed a special session of congress also coming up on the ship.