Key posts
- Non-compete job clauses might be stifling wage growth
- EU to propose plan to boost Kyiv’s ammunition supplies
- More than 40 killed in fiery Greece train crash
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
1 of 1
Non-compete job clauses might be stifling wage growth
In Australia, the competition watchdog will investigate if businesses are forcing their staff to sign away their rights to switch jobs for better pay and conditions with claims a lack of competition has contributed to real wages growing just $18 a week over the past decade.
Competition Minister Andrew Leigh will on Thursday reveal plans to task the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to examine so-called “non-compete clauses” in employment contracts.
Andrew Leigh has tasked the ACCC with looking at non-compete clauses in worker contracts over fears they are driving down wages growth.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A non-compete clause effectively prevents a business from poaching workers from a rival firm. In some overseas cases, they can stop a person from working with a rival business for several years, making it virtually impossible for them to shift to a better-paid position in the same industry.
Read more on this issue here.
EU to propose plan to boost Kyiv’s ammunition supplies
Turning to the war in Ukraine, with the European Union set to propose a three-track plan to provide Ukraine with much-needed ammunition in response to some member states’ calls to ramp up the continent’s production capacity.
The amount of funding remains unclear.
The proposal calls for the immediate transfers of ammunition, particularly 155mm artillery rounds from existing stocks or pending orders, as well as using a joint procurement framework to aggregate orders to European industry.
The proposal also envisions ramping up Europe’s industrial capacity to meet current and future demand, according to a document Bloomberg News obtained.
“All three elements are crucial to sustain our support for Ukraine moving forward,” it reads.
“All three tracks need to be pursued in parallel and as a matter of urgency.”
Bloomberg
More than 40 killed in fiery Greece train crash
Rescuers searched for survivors in the wreckage of two trains that slammed into each other in northern Greece, killing at least 43 people and crumpling carriages in the country’s worst-ever rail crash.
The impact just before midnight Tuesday threw some passengers into ceilings and out the windows.
Rescue workers at the site of a derailed passenger train following the collision in the Tempe valley near Larissa, Greece.Credit:Bloomberg
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned on Wednesday (Greece time), saying he felt it was his “duty” to step down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly”.
The stationmaster in the city of Larissa has been arrested over the head-on collision, which also injured more than 80 people, Greek police said. A police statement identified the suspect only as a 59-year-old man.
“My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt,” Stefanos Gogakos, who was in a rear car, told state broadcaster ERT. He said windows shattered, showering riders with glass.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the collision of the passenger train and a freight train “a horrific rail accident without precedent in our country,” and pledged a full, independent investigation.
He said it appears the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error.”
The train from Athens to Thessaloniki was carrying 350 passengers, many of them students returning from raucous Carnival celebrations.
While the track is double, both trains were traveling in opposite directions on the same line near the Vale of Tempe, a river valley about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
AP
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Thursday, March 2. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- The prime minister categorically ruled out taxing capital gains on the family home, but the Coalition warns voters to expect more financial blows
- Australia Post is considering slower, less frequent letter delivery service in a bid to save the service
- Households across the country are winding back spending and eating into savings to make ends meet as inflation, interest rate pain kicks in
- The competition watchdog will investigate whether non-compete clauses are stifling wage growth
- Three road projects drive debate in the Aston byelection, in Melbourne’s outer east
- Meanwhile, as the NSW election nears the one issue concerning voters is rising cost of living
- In overseas news, at least 40 people have died in a horror train crash in Greece as the country’s transport minister resigns
- Ukrainian drones have breached Russian defences by flying deep into the country, as the EU is set to propose plans to boost Kyiv’s ammunition supplies
1 of 1
Most Viewed in National
Source: Read Full Article