retailers hope for big holiday sales and brace for returns. what happens to that unwanted gifts when it goes back to florida? blown welcome to that 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 employee 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, wacken. it being understaffed. you know, i've 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, get me 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 can not afford to match the nurses unions demands. the government says previously a modernist is wage. if he wants his cheese south, it looks ways you would work about shift or over time. i thought now the i'm have it's where it bunch shifts as oversight. just to make ends meet and it's fairly difficult. people are not manage and we've got a few pies set up in our church that nurses and all the staff members that happen

to that exist to feed the families lab. it's not enough. it's not a beckon london. ordinary car drivers are 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. the price is chief economic adviser for the center for economics and business research and london are. vickie, thanks for joining the show. i'm struck by the nurse. we just heard. heard who said that the shifts she wants worked to have more pocket cash or luxury items or

whatever she wanted to buy. she now needs to work them 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 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 disposable incomes 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 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. still not enough of cost 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 it's one of the largest that we have seen in ages over give also read somewhere that you care 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, 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 for like a situation was enter into big austerity program. that was there to program through the decades i followed meant that a lot of spending on party services was cut 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 part of it to work is now have that they have fallen. so behind that the increases they're asking for now, which look unmanageable by the government, are to make up for all the doses if had all these years. to what extent, if any, is breaks it 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 his effect is different sectors in different ways. so if you look at the economy across the whole sort of area where particularly you work is 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 or 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 had a conditions get 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 prime minister issues. 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, they could raise taxes in those ways and, and pay for more of this increase it. but it's absolutely true that inflation is an issue, 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 their 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, but the producers could of pass it all on to the can see where 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 less than in the privacy except in areas like graves strikes. for example, the railway workers where you could in fact see transport plans go up. but overall, they're much less inflationary that would otherwise be the case. want to leave it there for now. vicki price center for economics, a 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 start of the war in february and the mobilization in september, each triggered waves of departures. the majority have fled to neighboring countries including georgia, romania and cars extend to avoid the draft us regulators of order banking giant wells fargo to pay $3700000000.00 in fines and customer refunds. it's the

largest fine. the consumer finance regulator has ever slap on a bank. wells fargo has spent years dealing with the series of scandals tied to its sales practices. my twitter ceo, eon 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 would 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. on corner of order. i'm or one customer wanted to order or freezer, but accidentally ordered 4. so 3 of them were sent back. that's one example of product worth of, 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 by the gun forester . 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 re sold online furniture store, home 24 has opened showrooms, where customers can sit down and get a feel for the product before buying it. since the machine is then 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 or 4 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 and wrap and pack it up up. i have to move goods for them and by and large number of in 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 what 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 the unprecedented pressure on the british health care system. unions point out the record, inflation has even into employee wages. that's it for me and visiting here in berlin. we'll be back later with more headlines in the meantime. check us out on youtube for under the d. w channel, you can also find us online, d, w dot com slash business, which watching with awe with

ah, how much just coffee handy environment these pioneers know that quite well. and that's why they're taking a different approach. they cultivate old farming, taking revive forgotten plant species and discover new potential world wide in defiance of big corporations. good coffee in 30 minutes on d. w. one of the most dangerous places in the world, the gulf of naples millions live here surrounded by volcanoes. but they're right on top of the ticking time bomb. a super volcano interruption is

possible at any time. will it be the next a friend in 70 on d w, a bob a

ah ah. this is dw live from burly ukraine's president of all the years lensky on his way to the united states. it's the 1st time he's left you price since russia invaded in february, and he's due to meet president biden and addressed a special session of congress. coming up on the shell.