Company profits surge as wages fall Michael Janda, www.abc.net.au, 27 February 2017 Official data show wages going backwards while company profits surged at the end of last year, with mining and construction leading the trend. Bureau of Statistics business indicators data for the December quarter show a massive 20.1 per cent surge in profits over…
Coca-Cola Amatil to close Adelaide factory in 2019, boost Queensland production By Sarah Scopelianos and Lauren Waldhuter, ABC,net.au, Wednesday February 22 2017 Coca-Cola workers in Adelaide are in shock after the company announced it would close its South Australian manufacturing facilities in 2019. Workers attended the Thebarton factory at 8:00am for the announcement, after shifts…
Adelaide ASC workers strike again over stalled pay talks Adam Langenberg, The Advertiser, February 23, 2017 HUNDREDS of workers at Adelaide shipbuilder ASC have launched industrial action once again over protracted pay negotiations. Union members marched outside ASC’s headquarters in Osborne on Thursday morning in a show of defiance to the Federal Government and…
Software glitch to blame for blackout of extra 60,000 SA homes in heatwave Gareth Hutchens, The Advertiser, 21 February 2017 The South Australian network operator says a software problem led to load shedding of 300MW instead of the 100MW requested by national market. SA Power Networks has said it knew a software glitch caused an…
Techport ship-building facility in Adelaide at centre of funding stoush between Federal, SA Governments Andrew Greene, ABC.net.au, Friday 18 February 2017 Australia’s multi-billion-dollar naval ship-building program has become embroiled in a spat over who should pay for the use of Adelaide’s state-of-the-art construction facilities. Over the next few decades the South Australian-owned naval…
Workers struggling to improve safety on South Australian construction sites despite deaths Aaron Cartledge, The Advertiser,February 17 MASTER Builders Association chief executive officer Ian Markos has obviously not worked on a building site in South Australia lately and encountered a safety breach that might have endangered his life. If he had, he might understand that…
Renewable energy: Expert Danny Price says nation is heading for a ‘third-world power system’ Uma Patel, Sabra Lane and Tom Joyner, ABC.net.au, 16 February, 2017 The nation’s electricity grid is heading “towards a third-world power system”, according to a respected expert in energy economics who helped design Australia’s national energy market rules. Danny Price, the…
Update on ABCC and SA Power Networks EA negotiations
South Australia power sector facing ABCC crossfire Ewin Hannan, The Australian, February 14, 2017 Unions have warned South Australia’s volatile power sector faces industrial upheaval as the state’s electricity distribution network seeks to impose the Turnbull government’s contentious construction code on hundreds of workers. SA Power Networks has angered unions by seeking to negotiate separate…
This toxic energy row must end Jay Weatherill, Financial Review, Feb 13 2017 Electricity supply is a public good and Labor believes it should be in public hands. That is why we opposed the privatisation of the Electricity Trust of South Australia, our state’s electricity supply utility.As a result of that policy decision,…