More has to be done to attract people into the occupations where skill shortages are most acute and to train them without unnecessary delay, Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane said today.
Administrators of Global Engineering Fasteners have closed their troubled Melbourne car parts maker Ajax Fasteners, standing down around 200 workers and threatening production at firms including Ford and Holden after the failure of a rescue plan today.
The AIRC has rebuffed an AEC request for a declaration that it won't breach penalty provisions in the Workplace Relations Act if it complies with provisions of a secret ballot order for the ABC.
The firefighters' union has won orders for a secret vote on industrial action after the AIRC rejected employer arguments that the wording of the ballot questions was too vague and imprecise to give members a meaningful choice.
Qantas has today ruled out sending its narrow-body heavy maintenance offshore and flagged it will be seeking significant productivity improvements from its long-haul pilots later this year, as it begins using AWAs in two start-up operations.
Sydney University has begun offering AWAs to its 6,000 academic and general staff that provide a 6% annual performance bonus as a lure away from the institution's collective agreements.
A voluntary administrator's rescue plan for Victorian car components maker Global Engineering Fasteners appears set to keep car manufacturers Holden and Ford in supply at least for the next two months under an in principle deal agreed today.
Rates of pay excluding bonuses have increased by 1% in the June quarter and 4.1% over the past 12 months in trend terms - and 6.1% over the past six quarters - maintaining pressure on the Fair Pay Commission to deliver a substantial cost of living increase when it makes its first determination in spring.
