While Australia's 'big four' banks claim to be fiercely competitive a new analysis by The Australia Institute shows that in fact over 53 per cent of each bank is owned by the same small number of institutional shareholders. The rise and rise of the big banks by Senior Research Fellow…

The ACTU is predicting a voter backlash after Tony Abbott admitted a Coalition election victory would cost 3.6 million low and middle income earners $500 per year, tens of thousands over their lifetime. ACTU President Ged Kearney said, "The battle lines have been drawn, there's no doubt about it. An…

The ACTU calls for a real and extensive discussion on job security, following the Prime Minister Julia Gillard's announcement of a date for the federal Election and a commitment to focus on jobs. ACTU President, Ged Kearney, said the PM's surprise announcement should be the trigger to intensifying discussion around…

On 15 January 2013 the ASU bargaining team met with BoysTown management and employee representatives for the third round of EA negotiations. The ASU negotiating team and management have begun working through our log of claims. We are making some progress on our smaller claims, but our more substantive claims…

The best boards were diverse and made up of generalists, said David Gonski in his Plenary session on Governance. The experienced board member and current Chairman of several boards including the Guardians of the Future Fund said, "It is my contention that large publicly listed companies and their governance models…

Michael O'Sullivan, who died on January 7, was the National Executive President of the Australian Services Union until he retired in 2004 after 38 years of active union service. He was previously National President and Deputy President of the Victorian Branch of the Federated Clerks Union of Australia (FCU), one…

The 2nd National Local Government Indigenous Employment Roundtable was held in Alice Springs on 3-4 December 2012. This information can be viewed on the ACELG website Convened by Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA), a consortium partner of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG), the Roundtable drew together…

TSF staff would be aware that the TSF Social Enterprise Agreement 2010 expires on 31 January 2013 and management have sent a letter to staff to commence bargaining for the next agreement. Following preliminary discussions between the ASU and senior HR management in late December negotiations for the next agreement…

ASU National Negotiating Team (NNT) had our second meeting with Virgin management in Brisbane on 4th January 2013 to discuss what guest services and contact centre staff want to see in our new agreement. At this meeting we gave the company the following detailed clauses for our claims: • Claim…

Opening ASFA 2012 former Prime Minister Paul Keating has called on the Federal Government to address longevity risk by increasing superannuation contributions by a further three per cent, or alternatively establishing a government pooled insurance fund. In a thought-provoking speech, short on the political rhetoric for which he is known,…