REDUNDANCIES – AUSTRALIA

ARM takeover spurs back-office cuts

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 23 : 12-Sep-16

APN News & Media’s deal to sell its Aust­ralian Regional Media division to News Corp Australia will be put to shareholders on 16 September 2016. ARM publishes regional and community newspapers in New South Wales and Queensland, and employs about 1,200 people. News Corp is expected to retrench about 300 staff if the deal proceeds, although these are likely to include some staff in its own regional operations in order to reduce duplication.

CORPORATES
APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL MEDIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS, PLATINUM EQUITY HOLDINGS, FETCH PLUS INCORPORATED PTE LTD, HERALD AND WEEKLY TIMES LIMITED

Casual hours to count in redundancy

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 23 : 17-Aug-16

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled that permanent employees who were initially hired as casual staff should have the latter period of service recognised in a termination payout. The FWC had ruled earlier in 2016 that redundancy payments at engineering and shipbuilding firm Forgacs should be based only on an employee’s period of permanent employment. However, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has succeeded in having the ruling overturned on appeal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FORGACS ENGINEERING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, ASC PTY LTD

Virgin’s $1b rescue plan

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Original article by Michael Smith, James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 16-Jun-16

Virgin Australia Holdings will seek to reduce costs by $A300m a year via a restructuring program, which will include phasing out some smaller planes and job cuts at management level. Virgin will also raise $A852m from shareholders via a rights issue at $A0.21 per share, compared with the stock’s closing price of $A0.26 on 15 June 2016. China-based HNA Group recently invested $A159m in Virgin, which aims to commence flights to China and Hong Kong.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, HNA GROUP, SINGAPORE AIRLINES LIMITED, VIRGIN GROUP LIMITED, NANSHAN GROUP, ETIHAD AIRWAYS, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED – ASX AIZ, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Santos puts cost cutting before more asset sales

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Original article by Simon Evans, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 & 32 : 5-May-16

Shares in Santos closed 8.7 per cent lower at $A4.20 on 4 May 2016, after the oil and gas producer’s annual meeting. Santos has shed 825 employees over the last 18 months, and CEO Kevin Gallagher has confirmed that more redundancies are on the agenda as part of the group’s cost-cutting strategy. He has also indicated that Santos may eventually divest some assets, but stressed that reducing costs and stabilising the company is the immediate priority.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, HONY CAPITAL, ENN HOLDINGS, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, TOTAL SA, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

Shell to axe jobs as cost cuts hit home

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 19 & 20 : 27-Apr-16

Oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell is believed to be planning to retrench up to 250 employees across Australia as part of a global cost-cutting strategy. Shell recently advised its Australian staff of the proposed job cuts but has not quantified the number that will be lost. Many Shell Australia employees will also be required to re-apply for their jobs. Shell spokesman Paul Zennaro says projects such as the Prelude floating LNG venture and the expansion of the group’s LNG project in Queensland will eventually create jobs.

CORPORATES
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BG GROUP PLC, QUEENSLAND GAS COMPANY LIMITED, CHEVRON CORPORATION, GORGON PTY LTD, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

The alternative to a Bank Commission – tackle Australia’s massive ‘cash economy’

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Original article by Gary Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Apr-16

The cost and distraction of a Bank Royal Commission would be expensive and unnecessary. Banks have high customer satisfaction ratings. Today Australia needs the banks and other financial institutions to be more involved in helping businesses and their customers in difficult financial times. Much more important to the electorate is Australia’s massive real unemployment and under-employment – in March 11 per cent unemployed and 7.8 per cent under-employed . The situation will not improve with recent industry lay-offs. Many of Australia’s business failures have been caused by falling commodity prices and unrealistic work practices upheld by outdated industrial relations laws. With the lack of sufficient work many Australians see no alternative but to be part of the massive cash economy. Both sides of politics need to present to the electorate policies which tackle this problem – only then will State and Federal Governments have any hope of cutting the massive government deficit and collecting sufficient additional revenue needed for education, hospitals, roads, transport, etc.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, ARRIUM LIMITED – ASX ARI, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DICK SMITH HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX DSH, QUEENSLAND NICKEL PTY LTD

Job-loss aid ‘ignores plight of thousands’

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 4 : 7-Apr-16

The Australian Government’s program to assist retrenched workers has been criticised by the OECD, which describes it as inequitable as it tends to favour workers in certain industries or regions. Employees in the steel, resources and car industries are among those who have benefited from labour assistance programs that are aimed at helping them to get new jobs. However, the OECD notes that many more employees in other sectors are retrenched each year and often do not receive the same level of assistance from the government.

CORPORATES
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, QUEENSLAND NICKEL PTY LTD, ARRIUM LIMITED – ASX ARI, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, CATERPILLAR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. CENTRELINK

Optus to cut hundreds of jobs in pursuit of ‘sustainable growth’

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 5-Apr-16

Optus will reduce its workforce by up to 480 positions within its consumer and enterprise divisions. The telco stated on 4 April 2016 that the number of redundancies had not yet been determined, as some workers will be relocated to other divisions. Optus said costs must be reduced to ensure "sustainable growth".

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

Hywood has ‘no plan’ says ex-Fairfax exec

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 21-Mar-16

A former editor-in-chief of "The Australian Financial Review", Glenn Burge, says Fairfax Media directors have not sufficiently questioned the strategy of CEO Greg Hywood. Burge says Fairfax lacks a plan to maintain its standards of journalism, and he has criticised Hywood for saying the latest round of job losses is necessary for the media group to keep delivering "high quality journalism". He also says Fairfax is too reliant on advice from consultants.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, BAIN AND COMPANY, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, PAGEMASTERS PTY LTD, DOMAIN.COM.AU

Fairfax journos strike over jobs

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Original article by Jake Mitchell, Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 3 : 18-Mar-16

Fairfax Media’s plans to cut the equivalent of 120 full-time jobs have met with dismay among journalists who decided to protest against an editorial restructure of metropolitan mastheads. Other cost cutting measures include cuts to contributor costs and expenses. Staff at the newspapers walked out in protest on 17 March 2016. Their action will last until 21 March.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE