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Tube workers will walk out for six periods in May and June after a disagreement with bosses over the sacking of two colleagues. The walkouts are planned for between nine and 24 hours from next Monday (May 16) to Friday (May 20) and again from Monday, June13 to Friday, June 17.

The spectre of travel disruption during the 2012 Olympics has been banished after rail unions have agreed a deal with Network Rail. The agreement secures pay rises and other conditions during next year’s event.

A top chief executive has been awarded a salary package that includes £6.5m worth of performance-related shares that are hold for three years plus a £1.2m salary. Stephen Hester is head of Royal Bank of Scotland which made a loss of more than £1bn last year.

Three weeks after it happened, emergency officials are trying to ascertain the cause of a major blaze which gutted three buildings in Salisbury’s Market Place on March 31, 2011. The fire at a pub, restaurant and inn was so intense that investigators were only able to enter the properties a week after the incident.

Over the UK, the total number of unemployed people fell by 17,000 to 2.48 million according to the latest figures and the rate for the three months to February was 7.8%, down 0.1% on the quarter. The number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 11,000 to reach 847,000. Wales was the only UK nation to see a rise in jobless.

Hoya, a company which makes and supplies ophthalmic lenses for opticians, has had to shed around half of its jobs at its Wrexham plant. The works committee at the factory said it would fight to get the best deal for staff who were going out of work. The firm employs 320 people at the Welsh plant, but calmed fears that the site would close by confirming it would operate at a reduced level.

A council which is already cutting 285 jobs says that without its new employment conditions, a further 400 staff could be out of work. Southampton City Council said the move would affect about 4,000 of the council’s 6,600 employees.

Administrators Begbies Traynor announced the future of a firm running a chain of bars which has got into financial straits after issues with cash flow.

A total of 34 firefighters were required to contain a blaze which raged throughout the day at the North Tyneside Council Waste and Recycling Centre. The fire quickly spread through the incinerator causing disruption in the area and nearby roads due to the thick smoke it issued. Police had to close lanes on the busy dual carriageways around the incident.

A car plant in the West Country is running at half capacity for the medium-term future. Despite this the owners of the Swindon factory, Honda, said that all the workers would remain on full pay. The firm was confident that the 22,500 fewer cars that would be built as a result could be made up by the year end. The slowdown is because of a lack of parts coming from Japan.

A union has accused council leaders of beginning a smear campaign following a bid to save local government jobs. Mike Tucker, Southampton’s Unison branch secretary, said he was “shocked” by a flyer, which has been printed ahead of local elections in May.

A car company investing in new technology said it will look at recruiting more staff as production increases. More than 200 people are employed by the Tata firm at its research and development centre on the University of Warwick campus in Coventry. Last October, Tata reversed a decision to close one of its Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plants after a pick-up in sales.