Tuesday newspaper round-up: Workers' rights, Severn Trent, Superdry

Union leaders have warned business groups against pushing Keir Starmer to water down Labour’s plans to introduce sweeping reforms of workers’ rights and a ban on zero-hours contracts. As the Labour leader comes under pressure from industry to scale back its shake-up of employment laws, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the plans were “extremely popular” with voters and good for the economy. – Guardian

Severn Trent has been fined more than £2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans “woefully inadequate”. Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020. – Guardian

The universities’ pension scheme has rejected a demand from academics to dump its investments in Israel, in a row over whether the conflict in Gaza can be branded “genocide”. The University and College Union (UCU), which represents more than 120,000 academics and support staff, wrote to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) at the end of last month, urging “an immediate review” of assets linked to Israel’s administration. – Telegraph

The London restaurant owned by viral chef Salt Bae has defied the cost of living crisis as wealthy diners continue to splash out on steaks worth hundreds of pounds. Nusr-Et Steakhouse in Knightsbridge raked in millions of pounds in 2022 as the business cashed in on the popularity of owner Nusret Gökçe, otherwise known as Salt Bae. The celebrity chef has built a global restaurant empire ever since a viral video in 2017 showed him extravagantly cutting meat and sprinkling salt. – Telegraph

A prominent US investor is among the parties being courted by Superdry's founder as he assembles an offer to take the struggling fashion chain private. Sky News has learnt that Davidson Kempner, which has backed a number of UK retailers, is in discussions with Julian Dunkerton about backing an offer for Superdry. – Sky News