Jobs
Who wants to work for Ken Grenda? Us. (Shhh, don’t tell Penbo.)
The Victorian businessman recently sold off the transit operations arm of his family-owned business Grenda Corporation, and his employees were the winners. Most got around $8500, while a few lucky ones scored as much as $30,000.
Now that’s what we call great boss material. Sadly, that sort of thing doesn’t happen to most of us. But there are things bosses can do to make life better both for employees and the company bottom line. After all, a happy employee is a productive employee. Bosses of Australia, are you reading this?
Continue reading "Seven simple things good bosses should do" »
As Australia Day descends, the great Aussie annual introspection starts. We ask questions about who we are as a nation, how does our history stack up, where are we heading and what our values are. We even have debates about whether we should have Australia Day at all.
Of course, having a bit of a national conversation with ourselves isn’t a bad thing. It’s healthy to ask questions. And there can be some spinoffs. A bit of navel gazing by Australians lead to Dr Karl Kruszelnicki‘s mini-thesis and why belly button fluff is always blue (true blue that is, or is it green, Karl?).
But as healthy as questioning is, it is important to know to have a good amount of evidence on side to really get a handle on things.
Continue reading "Five of the biggest, fattest myths about Australia" »
Latest 2 of 31 comments
View all comments-
Richard says:
HANG ON A MINUTE, stone the crows…... my GG Grandfather was an immigrant, he stole no ones job, he was a blacksmith, but worked and help make Australia, Australia. Why he even built the school of Arts in Tenterfield, and as an alderman shook the hand of Henry Parkes in… Read more »
-
cayal says:
“What about our absolutely incredible great outdoors? I’ve travelled the world and we have the best nature has to offer.” Not even close in my opinion. Read more »
Tony Abbott’s claim this week that only the “right kids” should be encouraged to stay in school misunderstands the jobs market, the needs of business and is not in the best interests of our kids.
It‘s true that not all young people want or need to go to university and they shouldn’t have to. But gone are the days when young people could finish Year 10 and walk into a job or a trade without qualifications.
Our economy has changed and employers increasingly desire higher levels of education and deeper levels of understanding. Think about the skills required by today’s mechanics, electricians and plumbers. Technical, computer and environmental changes mean these sorts of trades have become more complex and require a higher level of vocational skills.
Latest 2 of 173 comments
View all comments-
Cath says:
Tony Abbott the elitist http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=tony+abbott+putting+out+the+rubbish.&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7SUNC_enAU386&biw=1366&bih=530&tbm=isch&tbnid=dLizuar4tg_a9M:&imgrefurl=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/six-votes-that-will-decide-if-labor-or-the-coaltion-can-govern/story-fn5ko0pw-1225908603612&docid=8Hxc84IPSgxljM&imgurl=http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/08/23/1225908/859411-tony-abbott.jpg&w=650&h=366&ei=nNzZTsCnO-yaiQfYsMnxDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=197&vpy=170&dur=2325&hovh=168&hovw=299&tx=154&ty=89&sig=101017243374696646959&page=1&tbnh=154&tbnw=257&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 Read more »
-
Tom says:
@The righteous one, VVS, palone. Bigoted and puerile, you are a simple trio. Read more »
Sometimes a change creeps up so stealthily that you hardly notice how far it’s gone. That’s how I feel about insecure work, something that used to be restricted to small part of our workforce, but has now spread, like the crown of thorns starfish, to trap millions of Australian workers.
Today, the reality is that 40 per cent of Australians are in some kind of insecure work.
That’s the combination of people who are casual (which is a quarter of the workforce alone), on short-term or other contracts, and in labour hire, as opposed to the normal definition of permanent jobs – with all the conditions and entitlements that come with them – that were the norm until a few years ago.
Latest 2 of 174 comments
View all comments-
limp wAbbott says:
If d.ckwank abbott gets in, he’ll only promote workchoices so watch out. In a worst case, we’ll all just have to start up a business ourselves. Read more »
-
SME hater says:
Yeah its shit when all you get is casual work. Tell ‘em to shove it and come to oz. Read more »
I’m not sure exactly where the ‘back room’ is. But it must be big. If you’re reading this on a computer in an office, you might even be in the ‘back room’. And if you are – according to most politicians and media commentators – you are basically useless and easily dispensable. Feeling good about yourself?
In the budget this week, the NSW Government announced it would abolish 5000 public service jobs. Not any particular jobs, just a general cull of ‘head office and back room’ workers.
The terrible loss of steel-making jobs in the Illawarra drew widespread concern just a couple of weeks ago. But announcements of cuts to the public service are usually met with something between ‘whatever’ and ‘triple it!’. Unless it’s your job in the firing line, which is why public sector workers and their unions have been a bit toey lately.
Continue reading "Out of sight, out of mind, now out of work" »
Latest 2 of 88 comments
View all comments-
Ozza says:
Centrelink is a federal government organisation. This article is talking about state governemnt organisations. If you experience delays/problems with Centrelink then go cmplain somewhere else. When 5000 jobs are cut from the State govt orgs you will feel it whether you like it or not! Read more »
-
Sue says:
Totally agree, getting rid of backroom staff will only slow the processes of paying people, running services etc as there won’t be the people to do this and the ones left will have a huge workload that will get done on a priority basis, and none essential thing will be… Read more »
About seven years ago I came into the office on a Thursday to discover that I was the boss. My appointment would be announced the next day, and I would start on the Monday.
I would be heading an organisation which had 245 staff. Many of them were among my best friends. A couple of them I didn’t much care for. Some of them I had never met.
I’m writing this today because my Punch colleagues have designated this Friday as Boss Day, and they wanted a piece about what it’s actually like to be the head honcho. And anyway, someone has to stick up for the bastards.
Latest 2 of 63 comments
View all comments-
Anne Stocks says:
P.S And David if they don’t respect you then give them a good kick up the backside!!! (: Have a good Life, Hope to see you in Heaven and Thanks - Kind regards Anne. Read more »
-
Anne Stocks says:
Hi David, what I like about you is that whatever your articles are focusing on your honest and out front, I don’t always agree with you of course, we have a very different focus in life, but I believe very much in your right to express what you feel and… Read more »
“There Is No Alternative” was a favourite line of Margaret Thatcher’s whenever she was trying to push one of her ideas on to the public.
The “TINA” philosophy has become part of the armoury of governments, big corporations, and others who want to convince us that we are naïve, ill-informed or stupid when we try and question the wisdom of their decisions.
Qantas is the latest example of a major company trying to convince us that There Is No Alternative to its plans to shift its operations offshore, and to cut about 1000 jobs here in Australia.
Continue reading "The flying kangaroo need not be a flying panda" »
Latest 2 of 65 comments
View all comments-
Andrew says:
Ged your comments also sound pretty hypocritical given the government has just dropped a bomb of money to help BlueScope steel employees, also another privately owned Australian business. Why aren’t you calling for support for Qantas employees instead of whinging about managements decision to restructure. Would you prefer 1000 employees… Read more »
-
acotrel says:
@Dovif The free market was introduced into Australia by Hawke, Keating, Hewson and Howard. How is Kevin Rudd to blame? All he did was continue the process of removing barriers to trade, when he allowed foreign airlines access into Australian airports. I suggest you are fixated on an ideology, and… Read more »
Alongside coal, steelmaking has dominated the Illawarra economy for the better part of a century. The industrial landscape of Port Kembla continues to define the lives of the people that work and live in its shadow, the people that I represent in the federal electorate of Throsby.
When I left high school in the early eighties, the Steelers NRL team was still running around in the top flight (before merging with St George), and many of my mates took up apprenticeships with the company that sponsored the famous scarlet jersey, BHP Steel.
We were a steel city, a proud working-class town, just like our sister city of Newcastle. In many respects we still are. But just like Newcastle and in the other manufacturing regions around Australia at that time, the ground was already shifting under our feet.
Continue reading "Sacked steelworkers, we will not abandon you" »
Latest 2 of 115 comments
View all comments-
acotrel says:
Aren’t BHP Billiton and Bluescope Steel effectively the same enitity? Perhaps if BHP had put something back into their Australian steel manufacturing to improve quality and efficiency, and thus competitiveness they’d have been in a better moral position to resist the Resources Rent Tax ? Have they left Australia workers… Read more »
-
RyaN says:
Here is a question that has been floating around in my head with regards to the top polluters moving their operations offshore as predicted. If these companies move their operations offshore before the carbon tax kicks in next year does that mean they will still receive the promised compensation if… Read more »
Twenty years I’ve been in the workforce. That’s 20 years of deadlines, jumping on planes, working late into the night and, ultimately, furthering the fortunes of companies and proprietors who are decent enough – sorry, lucky enough – to have me.
During those two decades, how many times do you reckon I’ve asked for a pay rise? Most years? Biannually? Nope. Just once.
Not a savvy thing to admit, but a quick ask around friends and colleagues reveals the same: Women don’t ask for pay rises.
Continue reading "Sisters should ask for pay rises themselves" »
Latest 2 of 18 comments
View all comments-
Billy says:
I wluodn't say I see the situation from a man's perspective. I'm analytical, so I just look at things from all sides to understand what may motivate certain patterns of thinking and behavior - but that doesn't mean I agree with all of the positions I recognize and analyze. I… Read more »
-
Micheal says:
Unparalleled acucarcy, unequivocal clarity, and undeniable importance! Read more »
As far back as I remember, I was never really interested in going to work or keeping a steady job. At the age of 20, I had graduated from University with a degree in Bugger All, and I had planned to be a dog walker for the wealthy – preferably for randy lonely old women living in the Eastern Suburbs and who didn’t have time to walk their terriers between yoga and brunch.
When I ended up in the hospital after one day of walking ‘Max’, I came to two conclusions: First, never interrupt a dog mating; Second, I needed a new job.
All this got me thinking about what my perfect job would be. Unlike all my other friends with a BA, I had no interest in working at a bank. So instead, I decided I would help save the planet.
Continue reading "The weird things we do to put bread on the table" »
Latest 2 of 23 comments
View all comments-
penriff panfa says:
my fave bit also… Read more »
-
Gregg says:
For some real stuff had some interesting bar jobs at times and not removing them from a cell window either! Sammy our pub owner would always sit down for six bangers for Sat. tea and say religiously, never had a tough sausage and he was Jewish too. And then dude… Read more »
There are a lot of tricks and short cuts taken in modern discourse, with its short attention span and abundance of professional spin doctors. In particular, when discussing policy there is a certain word which is often uttered as if it was magic spells that can silence one’s detractors.
The word is “jobs”. It is increasingly favoured by politicians and rent-seeking lobby groups, but are we finally becoming too skeptical for it to work?
Whenever the debate turns to an economic issue, this word is sure to surface early on in the rhetoric for or against any proposal. It is implicit in such an argument that whichever decision creates more jobs must be the right one. Unemployment is, after all, a calamity we would hardly wish on our worst enemy. The more jobs, the better things must be for Australians and our economy.
Continue reading "The threat of job cuts is a smokescreen" »
Latest 2 of 61 comments
View all comments-
Reg says:
It sure makes one wonder what Kodak is up to these days. No doubt they saw the writing on the wall and now make something like woollen goods, chemicals and dog-food. Read more »
-
Reg says:
Too sensible Grumpy. Then there are those who would claim we’re only being emotional and should accept that this is a different market environment, or some such other dismissal. Notice the traditional misery being displayed by Brother MarK above. Yur gotta larf! Read more »
To some Australians the high dollar is cause for celebration.
A great way to pick up a bargain over the internet or a cheap holiday overseas. But for many, including 100 workers at Caterpillar in suburban Melbourne last week, it means watching your industry become less competitive and suddenly finding yourself out of a job.
The cause of the high dollar is Australia’s mining boom.
Continue reading "A high dollar carries an even higher price" »
Latest 2 of 56 comments
View all comments-
Ray says:
I’m sorry! Its just impossible to take anything that Dave Oliver says seriously. This is the union boss that openly had a voodoo doll of one of the female amwu organisers. This man has no idea how to treat his own workforce. His is a terrible union full of bullies… Read more »
-
The Badger says:
Did all you Australian workers out there see what Steve thinks of your work ethic? “the Aussie workforce is more or less a bunch of bludgers” aussie worker, do you thing you are a bludger? Do you think you do a fair days work for a fair days pay? Read more »
Competition in corporate Australia has always been fierce. Everyone wants the best people, systems, products and services.
But behind the smiles and claims to the contrary, everyone from the Chairman down wants to get one up on their direct competitors on every metric that matters.
At stake are bonuses, bragging rights and most important of all, continued survival in the corporate jungle.
Continue reading "Indigenous skills: let market forces triumph" »
Latest 2 of 16 comments
View all comments-
Hazera says:
2500 dallors seems like a small sum of money to be owed for forced labour. It should not only be about the value of the labour performed but the loss of human dignity as well.Of course they only want to give those that are dead a headstone. What they refuse… Read more »
-
Sam Wylie says:
Glen I enjoyed you post, and I agree. Competition is most acute, and works best, when the objective is clearly defined. In sport the objective is crystal clear, competition is all there is between teams, co-operation is within teams and there is no hiding from failure. Teams that don’t innovate… Read more »
There won’t be mass lay-offs of lawyers, advertising executives and journalists if policy makers get it wrong on climate change. Trade in skinny lattes is not tipped to move offshore. Sales of Birkenstock sandals are also expected to remain unaffected.
Inner-city proponents of tough action on climate change don’t always get it. That’s because middle-class professional jobs and communities aren’t the battleground of climate change policy.
If you wear steel capped boots to work and drink instant coffee you might not spend much time talking about climate change; but it is the blue-collar workers in Western Sydney and our great industrial regions that have a real stake in the debate.
Continue reading "Yuppies have nothing to fear from a price on carbon" »
Latest 2 of 75 comments
View all comments-
ZimmermanSTACI says:
Buildings are not cheap and not everybody is able to buy it. However, mortgage loans was invented to support different people in such kind of cases. Read more »
-
George says:
China’s Work On Emissions Puts Australia To Shame! October 26 2010 Victoria’s Greens demand the closure of one of Victoria’s biggest power stations: “Hazelwood Power Station operates on brown coal; the dirtiest coal source on the planet… The best time to close Hazelwood was yesterday but the next best time… Read more »
When Charles “Chicka” Dixon passed away last month, Australia lost a vigorous advocate for Aboriginal rights. Chicka was an agitator and a unionist but he was also a realist who understood that to get ahead Indigenous people needed skills and training and opportunity.
But this training had to be real and translate to actual work. Aboriginal people are among the most trained people in this country, yet they represent the highest unemployed.
Chicka Dixon and I would have disagreed on many things, but on that point he could not have been more right.
Continue reading "Chicka Dixon knew education was the key to closing the gap" »
Latest 2 of 48 comments
View all comments-
John A Neve says:
Acker, Your last post indicates the real value of your comments. Now we all know why you and those like you always blame others for you failures. Read more »
-
acker says:
@John Neve… I don’t know where you live but I suspect it is a long way and very different environment from that of Dick Estens and Chicka Dixon. Just remember John every rs-hole has an opinion whether any one listens thats another matter. Read more »
What a huge news week it was last week. Sabi the dog came home. Tiger Woods fever gripped the country, and like Ol’ Man River our Australian economy keeps just keep rolling along.
With apologies to Tiger I know we’re not out of the woods yet and nobody’s taking the hands off the wheel, but it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on our achievement as a nation.
Last week’s jobs figures came in at 5.8%. 670,000 unemployed Australians is too many and we expect that unemployment will continue to rise in the coming months. But the community resilience in the face of this threat has been fantastic.
Continue reading "Bennelong, where jobs prove the stimulus is working" »
Latest 2 of 27 comments
View all comments-
Joel B1 says:
hoofman says: “Must be a slow day for the staff of Liberal MPs judging by the comments here. So slow they’ve had to take a break from attacking each other “ Nothing to say about the fluff piece then hoofman? Why bother commenting if you aren’t referring to the article?… Read more »
-
stephen says:
Think next you better write an article on Fat Blokes, Maxine. Get a better quality response. Read more »
What the hell was that? As a parent with a child in school for the first time I have just withstood a round of what I suspect will become the regular school holiday juggle.
After taking one week’s leave the battle-plans were laid out: a day with said child in the office, play dates lined up, grandparents locked in – and then she gets sick meaning the fragile house of cards came tumbling down.
It’s a simple rule of math really, schoolkids have around 12 weeks of holidays each year while their parents average four - that’s a lot of time when households are juggling care.
Continue reading "Juggling family life - how leave doesn’t add up" »
Latest 2 of 16 comments
View all comments-
forex robot says:
nice post. thanks. Read more »
-
Mr Pastry says:
Studies show Cavemen worked 8 hours a week, its been downhill all the way since then. Read more »
Last week I was fortunate to be invited to be part of the launch of a new business on Kangaroo Island, which is in my electorate.
Kangaroo Island is one of the most beautiful parts of Australia, it is frontier country.
But the very thing that makes it so beautiful for the hundreds of thousands of tourists is the same thing that makes it so challenging for its residents and its economy.
Continue reading "Entrepreneurial spirit beats government every time" »
Latest 2 of 11 comments
View all comments-
Trev says:
Jamie I’m somewhat puzzled by the implication in your headline that there must of necessity be on-going competiton between government and private enterprise. It seems to me that the private sector needs/uses government services (can you give me an example of an enterprise that does not Jamie?) and that the… Read more »
-
Trev says:
Craig, can you please give a poor simple fellow like me an example of a situation where the government has no role to play but none-the-less manages to facilitate something for private enterprise? Perhaps providing the large banks with liquidity assistance during the GFC qualifies as “no role” but just… Read more »
I have a friend - let’s call him Jeffery - who has been anonymously toiling at the same company for two thankless years.
Last week, he decided he wanted out, and applied for a job at a funky new ‘web 2.0’ outfit. Mild and self-effacing, poor Jeffery had no idea of the ordeal that awaited him.
I got a call after the interview. The voice on the other end sounded sad and despondent. ‘I really stuffed up’…
Continue reading "What are your hobbies? And other stupid questions" »
Latest 2 of 61 comments
View all comments-
Nic says:
I haven’t had too many asinine questions, I’ve had the “Where do you see yourself in five years” one but I think everyone has to endure that at some point or another. But during her graduate jobs hunt, my sister got asked which character from friends she would be. And… Read more »
-
kimmeh says:
I once got. “Do you believe in Christmas?” I still don’t know how to answer this. Read more »
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same adage can be applied to women’s equality in society. However, lately it feels like construction has come to a complete halt.
Research released this week by the Australia Institute positioned women as one of the groups hardest hit by the financial crisis in the workplace. While more men had lost full-time jobs than women, women faced worsening underemployment in the form of limited hours and poor pay.
The women hardest hit by this news will be those who can least afford it – struggling lone mothers and women from low-income backgrounds.
Continue reading "Women are the real losers in the Global Financial Crisis" »
Latest 2 of 54 comments
View all comments-
Stay at home Mum says:
I am a stay at home Mum. Many women I mention this to consider me a parasite or a moron, lacking in voice and freedom. My partner works a long week to bring the bacon in. I cook it, clean up after it, teach the children for the first 6… Read more »
-
Steve says:
You women had better watch what you wish for because the more you nag men the sooner we will send you to afghanistan to defend freedom in that country alongside womens rights given to them on a silver platter. Now wouldn’t that be refreshing rather than sending 19 year old… Read more »
One of the great benefits of representing a regional electorate is the opportunity to attend many local shows.
Whether it is Mount Barker, Mount Pleasant, Strathalbyn or Kangaroo Island – shows represent what is great about regional Australia – although you can take or leave the Dagwood Dogs.
But there is a danger lurking for these regional celebrations in the form of yet another bungled Rudd Government “reform”, a danger that threatens the very survival of the small regional shows.
Continue reading "Your local country show is under threat" »
Latest 2 of 5 comments
View all comments-
stephen says:
I love backpackers. They’re different. (maaate) Read more »
-
stephen says:
Instead of the Government regulating businesses, why don’t the people do it. A website could be set up, naming recalcitrant corporations and enterprizes which abuse their authority toward workers. The website would be specific, and consumer pressure would be brought to bear. Read more »
Here’s a quiz for your readers. How many green jobs did Kevin Rudd announce at the Labor Party Conference and how many of them were new?
Many readers of the Punch could be forgiven for thinking they heard the Prime Minister promise to deliver 50 000 new green jobs.
Unfortunately like so many of the Government’s announcements about a large array of job creation and training programmes it pays to read the fine print.
Continue reading "Labor’s green jobs promise is a huge lie" »
Latest 2 of 5 comments
View all comments-
Okoro says:
[...] flnoowilg the President’s visit, the United States will establish a Marine Air-Ground Task Force at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks, [...] Read more »
-
johnv_au says:
This is called in political circles spin we will create jobs fix the hospital system its what we in the real world do when the wife askes to fix some thing around the house we say yes dear but have no intentions of doing it Or we will patch it… Read more »
In a speech to Young Labor seven months ago I said that generations were often unfairly criticised by the ones which preceded them.
The young adults of Generation Y are often generalised as being plagued by apathy and indifference.
They’re sometimes called lazy and ungrateful for the many perceived advantages they have over earlier generations.
Continue reading "My speech on Gen Y was about tough love" »
Latest 2 of 15 comments
View all comments-
imarion says:
This was a really refreshing read. Gen Y is pretty consistently dubbed as “not capable” or “selfish,” and it simply isn’t true. There are obviously incapable and selfish people in every generation, all over the world; but there no entire generation acts one way. Understanding that relationships are what cultivate… Read more »
-
imarion says:
This was a really refreshing read. Gen Y is pretty consistently dubbed as “not capable” or “selfish,” and it simply isn’t true. There are obviously incapable and selfish people in every generation, all over the world; but there no entire generation acts one way. Understanding that relationships are what cultivate… Read more »
When I was 19, I started mapping out my career plans. I was in my second year of university when I decided to volunteer as an unpaid intern for two full days per week at a magazine publishing house. My baby-boomer father never understood how I could do it for two years without pay (while working weekends in retail, where yes, I dealt with the worst customers imaginable and cleaned up kid vomit from the floor of my store), but I had faith in the fact that it would one day pay off.
One day was not this week, because this week, Employment Minister Mark Arbib is urging Gen Y to readjust their ideas about work and employment, stop the “snobbery” associated with certain means of work, and take whatever jobs they could get. For someone whose attitude to work has more to do with paying university fees and funding my internet bill than snobbery and a class act on the career ladder, Senator Arbib’s comments did not go down too well. And I was not the only one to notice.
Generation Y has long bore the brunt of the attention-seeking, lazy, power-hungry generation that refused to put in the hard yards for their future, something which the Senator might have capitalised on in his address to a young labor conference last week. What he failed to recognise is the fact that Generation Y has suffered long enough as a result of this stereotype, and as such, was ditching conventional forms and methods of work in favour of something that works for them.
Continue reading "Gen Y is picky? You call it snobbery, we call it tactic" »
Latest 2 of 30 comments
View all comments-
Youngson says:
Hi Cindy,Generation Jones is ulausly considered mix between Generation X and Baby Boomers. We decided to focus on the distinct generations (Generation Z, Y, X and Baby Boomers) instead of combinations, like Generation Jones. We’d be happy to work with you to develop a post on Generation Jones. Please contact… Read more »
-
Celeste says:
Like Dan I as a quallified Beauty therapist couldn’t get a job anywhere because he didn’t have “the experience”, and was never given the opportunity to actually earn it. Another Gen Y fave, Yet I have been working in a supermarket for the last six (6) years. Read more »
There aren’t many things that are more important than making sure someone has a job. If you want to fix inequality and social disadvantage in a community, if you want to give someone a leg-up in life, you find them a decent job.
For the Labor Party, jobs are in our DNA and that’s why it is such an honour to be sworn in today as the Federal Minister for Employment Participation.
Sadly we are confronted with the reality that this week a new set of unemployment figures will come out and they will probably show more Australians are out of work.
Continue reading "How the new jobs minister will help keep you employed" »
Latest 2 of 17 comments
View all comments-
Elizabeth Jarvis says:
I for one think Howard and Costello’s massive surpluses were economic vandalism on a grand scale. We go on about debts, but building up massive surpluses means the Government is not spending the money they’re collecting on the things they should be providing for us - better health facilities, education,… Read more »
-
Bob Simpson says:
Mark, you’re living in ideological dreamland! And, if you’re one of the Prime Minister’s favourites, we should be really worried. Have you ever created a job by taking a personal and financial risk, developing an idea, planning and executing a marketing strategy, selling the product or service at a loss,… Read more »
IT was stirring stuff from ACTU president Sharan Burrow this week: ``How can the CEO of Pacific Brands take home her salary while she sends 1850 workers and their families to the poverty of unemployment? Shame.’‘
You’d need a heart of stone not to feel something for the hundreds of workers likely to lose their jobs. And you wouldn’t be alone if you reserved a special kind of anger for the actions of Pacific Brands.
But, really, does Sue Morphet, the reviled chief executive of the company behind Bonds and Berlei, deserve all the blame?
Continue reading "Sue Morphet, Australian businesswoman of the year" »
Latest 2 of 5 comments
View all comments-
Shire Mum says:
I would like to say (belatedly) the fact that Sue’s salary was nearly tripled is a big issue for the workers who have been made redundant. Redundancy is not a magic pill for most people - it can have a devestating effect on the self-esteem that’s for sure. I think… Read more »
-
Sandra Davey says:
In business (and the media), there’s a set of rules for men and a set of rules for women, and how Sue Morphet has been treated demonstrates this brilliantly. Mathieson comes so close to hitting on the truth but skirts (excuse the pun!) around it each time. Morphet is a… Read more »
WELL, that’s a blow. The worst global financial crisis for two generations and Australia can’t even muster a decent recession.
This morning’s numbers, showing the economy grew - grew! - in the March quarter, provide disappointment for households that have traded down from Leconfield to Lindemans and for companies that have appeared a little too eager to wave the pink slips.
Were their budgetry sacrifices in vain?
Continue reading "What recession? It’s a pity we went and sacked everyone" »
Latest 2 of 15 comments
View all comments-
Vicgal says:
To Wendy, you will find you are wrong in your ‘astrological prediction’ here, get your head out of the sand lol..You will find by 2011 not 2012 that things will be rolling ahead again… for now the Rudd Government have averted the worst of the recession from Australia and I… Read more »
-
Alec Watson says:
Companies have taken advantage of the downturn to flick all their dead wood, pay cuts and reduced hours. I often wonder if these action alone caused most of the perceptions we have about the recession. Read more »
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
That's it. Beautifully recreated.RT @lagcamion: @farrm51 @AndrewCatsaras Dr dr dr dr dndlundlundndndndn (with pinched nostrils) - that one?
Tip for young journos. Have a short CV. A page, two max.
@DarrenFerrari @andrewcatsaras And so he should be. He might be the chap humming in the background to the end of the recording.
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
New speaker’s slack clobber, old speaker clobbers slackers
Peter Slipper, draped in black in a manner most young voters will not see outside Hogwarts, has dramatically…
Snappy 60th birthday to our most fun newspaper
Life is far from dull in the Northern Territory. Or if it is, we’ll never know. And that’s…
There’s no evidence sex-for-cab-fares is a trend
Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: City vs country: What would you change your life for?
Dieter Moeckel says:
We made the tree change from Darwin to Wonbah more than 15 years ago. After fencing, a road, and couple of dams our money was gone. Super is enough to live comfortably. We have geese growing old and stringy the only one that made it to the pot committed Kamakazi by flying into a tree; the chooks are… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
Latest 2 of 62 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment