NewsBite

Jobs summit

October 2022

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke

Business pushes urgent IR changes to stop ‘Trojan horse’ for strikes

Business groups are alarmed that the bill will introduce industry strike rights and rope unwilling employers into multi-enterprise deals

  • Updated
  • Andrew Tillett and David Marin-Guzman
Business leaders were at the Jobs Summit to give cover for a pre-planned IR agenaa.

Business has been outfoxed by the unions and Labor

The government isn’t hostile to companies. But it suits its agenda to portray them as the villain in the pantomime.

  • Phillip Coorey
It won’t just be the IT industry that gets damaged if exploitative and short-term thinking becomes the norm.

Tech start-up ‘churn and burn’ model of firing staff must end

Aussie start-ups have been misguided in aping Silicon Valley by over-hiring and overpaying staff with VC money, only to fire people at will when sentiment changes.

  • Angus Dorney
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth

Job access for workers with a disability gets $20m boost

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says Labor will spend $20 million to subsidise efforts of employers taking on workers with a disability.

  • Tom McIlroy

September 2022

ACTU secretary Sally McManus and COSBOA chief executive Alexi Boyd announcing their deal last month.

Small business council rules out strike powers in union deal

The small business council has ruled out new rights to strike across employers as part of a review of its pact with unions on multi-employer bargaining.

  • David Marin-Guzman
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As Western Europe’s largest petroleum producer, Norway will make record sums from the sale of oil, gas and electricity this year.

We can do better than ‘Saudi Australia’

Rather than emulating Venezuela, we could adopt a Norwegian model of government co-investment in future mining projects.

  • Richard Holden
ACTU secretary Sally McManus and COSBOA chief executive Alexi Boyd.

Small business council to review union deal

The Council of Small Business has defended its pact with unions on multi-employer bargaining, arguing that it is “opposed to unionisation of small business”.

  • John Kehoe and David Marin-Guzman
Mars and Snickers bars are made at the Ballarat factory. Mars Wrigley GM says more skilled migration is needed.

Mars Wrigley: double skilled migration now

The marker of Snickers and Pods wants the federal government to give special focus to regional Australia where many food manufactures are based.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
Stephanie Agnew, who lost her eyesight to a degenerative disease, at the Jobs and Skills Summit.

Watershed moment as Millennials take charge

The Jobs and Skills Summit was a refreshing mix of youth and diversity, suggesting a watershed change in how politics is played.

  • Tom Burton
It is very flattering for business lobbies to be consulted on matters of high policy importance.

If business groups were abolished, governments would recreate them

The jobs summit shows how lobbyists like the Business Council of Australia end up being recruited by politicians to skewer their own members.

  • Nick Hossack
Christine Holgate: “I don’t think it has yet been defined what is meant by ‘multi-employer bargaining’.”

Toll Global Express boss open to multi-employer bargaining

Christine Holgate has expressed an interest in multi-employer bargaining following the Jobs and Skills Summit.

  • Gus McCubbing
The role of alcohol in a “work hard, play hard” office culture is disadvantageous and dangerous for women, says Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. 

Alcohol a major problem for women in the workplace: Jenkins

The role of alcohol in a “work hard, play hard” office culture is disadvantageous and dangerous for women, says Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. 

  • Gus McCubbing
Greater childcare supply could help deliver benefits in labour supply, female participation and education standards.

We weren’t played by unions, says COSBOA

The small business lobby’s chair insists its dealings with the ACTU don’t amount to a commitment to pattern bargaining.

  • Andrew Tillett
Razor Smiths owner Tom Donato, seated, said small business was “willing to negotiate” on flexibility.

Hairdressers want more work, bosses need them, but the rules stop them

Hairdressers want to consider all industrial options, including multi-employer bargaining, to simplify a workplace system that they argue stops them from giving staff more hours and addressing labour shortages.

  • David Marin-Guzman
AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said more and more employers in manufacturing are favouring multi-employer bargaining.

Manufacturers back multi-employer deals to stop ‘race to the bottom’

Major commercial air conditioning companies have backed multi-employer bargaining as a way to ensure high industry pay and standards and stop others from undercutting them.

  • David Marin-Guzman
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Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott addresses the media, watched by ACTU secretary Sally McManus (left), ACTU president Michele O’Neil and BCA president Tim Reed.

Letters: Dancing to the unions’ tune

Jobs summit and the role of business, unions and the ALP; Pilbara injustice; People’s Choice-Heritage Bank merger; climate “wars” and action.

Former Fair Work Commission deputy president Reg Hamilton said the commission was “well equipped” to assist new entrants into bargaining.

Umpire could prepare ‘rolled gold’ deals to simplify bargaining

Flexible standard agreements for small business and pre-approval of agreements before they’re put to a vote are some of the ideas coming out of the jobs summit.

  • David Marin-Guzman
Sam Mostyn played a key role at the summit last week.

‘It is a signal that there is more to come’ for women: Mostyn

Labor was unwilling to bring forward its new childcare subsidy to lengthen paid parental leave, but there was still plenty in the summit for women, said Sam Mostyn.

  • Sally Patten
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 17: Managing Director of Kennards Hire, Sam Kennard on May 17, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Munoz/Fairfax Media)

Gender pay gap reporting ‘a distraction’: Rich Lister

Sam Kennard of Kennards Self Storage has criticised a move to force companies to publicly report their gender pay gap as a burden that won’t add value to his business.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros and Yolanda Redrup
Financial Review cartoonist David Rowe’s take on the summit.

‘Better off’ test means most are not better off

The Australian Financial Review’s exclusive interview with Paul Keating and Bill Kelty effectively exposes how Labor and the unions have undermined productivity and wages growth over the past decade.

  • The AFR View

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/jobs-summit-6fp1