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Workplace Matters

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar.

Workplace MattersCommentsPremium‘Economically reckless’: Employers blast union pay push

Employers have blasted a union campaign for a minimum wage increase by more than 5 per cent, calling it “economically reckless” and warning it would fuel inflation and pressure already stretched employers.

Ryan Johnson

Bankwest graduate program manager Jess Muntz and Bankwest chief investment officer Peter Harvey pictured with graduates at Bankwest’s office in Raine Square, Perth, on Thursday. Carwyn Monck

BankingCommentsPremiumBankwest’s new grads lock in for banking’s AI frenzy

A new troop of technology grads are filing into Bankwest guided by a mantra to not be afraid of artificial intelligence taking their jobs, but rather the peer who wields the tool better than they can.

Simone Grogan

Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey.

Oil & GasCommentsPremiumLobby lashes union for strike threats against Inpex

The State’s resources lobby has piled on the Offshore Alliance for threatening strikes and stoppages at Inpex’s Ichthys LNG operations, telling workers their pay packets are already big enough.

Simone Grogan

Simon Mukwarami is remembered as a loving husband and father.

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
MiningPremium
The West Australian exclusive
WorkSafe accuses South32 of negligence in worker’s death

A much-loved father died at a Western Australian alumina refinery because there were ‘no controls’ in place ‘to prevent a fall’, a leaked document from the State’s safety regulator has revealed.

Adrian Rauso

New gender equality standards across Australia will affect almost 2000 large-sized workplaces. (Julian Smith/AAP PHOTOS)

employerCommentsPremiumMajor employers face new rules on gender equality

Companies with 500 or more employees have new requirements to set, report on and meet gender equality targets in an effort to make workplaces more equitable.

Maeve Bannister

ndrew McKellar, Chief Executive Officer at Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

EconomyCommentsPremiumWar causing too much pressure for pay rises, lobby argues

Australia’s largest businesses have told the Federal Government to tread carefully on wage increases, claiming members can’t stomach further hits to margins under pressure from inflation and now fuel prices. 

Simone Grogan

Working from home is now baked into most workplace policies. So how do businesses get their workers to want to go into the office, and ultimately retain staff?

Workplace MattersCommentsPremiumHow to get employees excited to work in the office

Working from home is now baked into most workplace policies. So how do businesses get their workers to want to go into the office, and ultimately retain staff?

Kimberley Braddish

The Worsley Alumina operation.

MiningCommentsPremiumFatal WA mine site won safety awards months before tragedy

South32’s Worsley Alumina operation won two safety awards, including one for an ‘overhead protection system that eliminates falling object risks’, just months before a boilermaker fell to his death.

Adrian Rauso

Petrol prices have surged on the back of the war’s onset, nearing $3 a litre in Sydney and above $2.50/l on average in Perth.

BusinessCommentsPremiumWFH not necessary amid fuel squeeze, business groups say

Business groups are pushing back on advice that encourages employees to work from home, urging them instead to switch to public transport.

Adrian Lowe

Union members working in Victorian public schools will stop work for 24-hours next week. (Julian Smith/AAP PHOTOS)

Workplace MattersPremiumSchools to stay open as teachers strike over pay deal

Public school teachers have rejected a state government's pay offer and will launch strike action next week.

Melissa Meehan

Last week, Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes told staff by video it would sack 1600 staff.

BusinessCommentsPremiumUniversal basic income not needed amid AI-driven job cuts

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino says a universal basic income won’t be needed despite the rapid uptake of artificial intelligence that has already claimed thousands of jobs at big-name tech companies.

Cheyanne Enciso

The rapid rise and uptake of artificial intelligence has been blamed for job cuts in their thousands at big-name tech companies and big banks, raising major questions about how far the technology will go.

Workplace MattersCommentsPremiumFears AI could cost more jobs as AI use rises

The rapid rise and uptake of artificial intelligence has been blamed for job cuts in their thousands at big-name tech companies and big banks, raising major questions about how far the technology will go.

Cheyanne Enciso

The Worsley Alumina operation.

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
MiningPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Worker dies at South32’s Worsley

South32 is temporarily scaling back operations at the Worsley Alumina refinery near Collie after a workplace fatality before dawn today.

Adrian Rauso

The ETU’s landmark move is the latest escalation of a broader union campaign to re-gain a foothold in the Pilbara’s iron ore mines after decades of dormancy. 

MiningCommentsPremiumWA miners set to walk off job for first time this century

Unions are on the cusp of having workers go on strike in WA’s mining heartland for the first time this century. 

Adrian Rauso

A plan to compress tube drivers' working week into four days ?is ?a safety risk, a union says. (EPA PHOTO)

Workplace MattersPremiumLondon Tube drivers to begin strikes later in March

A union says London Underground drivers are planning six 24-hour strikes in protest at planned changes to ‌their working hours.

Staff Writers

In the agency’s latest analysis, chief Mary Wooldrige was encouraged that almost all sectors – except education and training – had tightened the total remuneration pay gap between men and women.

Workplace MattersPremiumBonuses, blokey jobs make narrowing pay gap tricky task

Government efforts to find and close pay gaps between men and women are showing tedious progress, new data suggests, as childcare and entrenched workplace practices prove stubborn obstacles.

Simone Grogan

Stories of people moving from accounting roles to carpentry, marketing to bricklaying and project management to electrical work – switching from a white collar to a dose of blue – look like tales of an increasingly smart choice, writes Gary Martin.

opinion
opinion
Gary MartinCommentsPremium
opinion
Rise of blue collar switch shouldn’t come as a surprise

Stories of people moving from accounting roles to carpentry, marketing to bricklaying and project management to electrical work look like tales of increasingly smart choices.

Gary Martin

Bankwest is pursuing a new course as a digital-only bank.

BankingCommentsPremiumIs this the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for Bankwest?

Commonwealth Bank has confirmed it wants to do away with a separate enterprise agreement for 1400 Bankwest staff in WA in favour of groupwide bargaining for its 33,000-strong workforce.

Sean Smith

Lobby groups say the court’s ruling overturns “reasonable” Fair Work Commission limits.

MiningCommentsPremiumCourt hands unions even more power on mine sites

Mining and energy groups say a Federal Court ruling on union delegates will create two tiers of workers — those who ‘actually work’ and those who do ‘whatever they please’.

Adrian Rauso

West Australians are heading into the break with one eye on the beach and the other on the numbers. 

Workplace MattersCommentsWA workers looking beyond one job

West Australians are heading into the break with one eye on the beach and the other on the numbers. 

Lanna Hill

PeopleKind’s Mark Fitzpatrick, Lifeline WA’s Lorna MacGregor, Crown Resorts’ Tanya Eales, Benang’s Damir Kadic, UWA Business School’s Paul Harrigan, Dr Marny Lishman, Bellevue Gold’s Darren Stralow, Happiness Co’s Julian Pace, South Metropolitan Health Service’s Neil Doverty, AIM WA’s Anna Dartnell and Professor Gary Martin, and psychologist Vanessa Vershaw.

CEOsPremiumWhy these chiefs have workplace wellbeing on the agenda

Leaders might take some inspiration from a recent Gen Z Tiktok trend when setting their corporate culture, amid calls for WA workplaces to be on the front line on mental health. 

Matt Mckenzie

Lisbon airport was nearly deserted at the start of a general strike in Portugal. (AP PHOTO)

Workplace MattersPremiumMajor strike in Portugal disrupts travel and services

Commuters have been brought to a standstill in Portugal as unions stage one of the country's biggest walkouts in years over worker entitlements.

Barry Hatton

The West revealed asbestos was detected in up to 18 fire doors at the new Edith Cowan campus in the city.

updated
updated
ConstructionCommentsPremium
updated
Call for asbestos audit after ECU campus discovery

Suppliers and regulators are scrambling to uncover the full extent of asbestos in fire doors amid revelations it was used in construction projects across the country for two years.

Matt Mckenzie

The mining contractor is based out of an office near Perth Airport and has some 1200 employees. 

ContractingPremiumEmployee of WA contractor dies in machinery incident at mine

WA contractor Macmahon has confirmed one of its employees was killed in an incident at a gold mine in Victoria. 

Simone Grogan