Coal-rich Hunter Valley ponders jobs future as Asian giants commit to net-zero carbon emissions
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FebFebruary 2021 at 2:08am
Gerard Spinks and Carl Kirwin are not as worried about their own futures as those of their children and grandchildren.
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At the Lochinvar pub in the NSW Hunter Valley, a couple of power industry workers meet for a drink and ponder the future. Everybody s a bit nervous because we are very reliant about coal, coal-fired power, says Gerard Spinks, who has worked for 39 years in the power stations of the Upper Hunter. All of our other main industries are gone our steel, shipbuilding, rail, and textiles so all we ve got left is mining and power. Once that goes, we ve got no idea what the future holds.
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Labor is taking a leaf out of the NSW Coalitionâs book with plans to grow regional jobs through green energy as it shakes up its climate portfolio and positions the party to gain ground in key regional seats.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese shifted long-term climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler out of the portfolio in Thursdayâs reshuffle and slotted in the Right factionâs former treasurer Chris Bowen, who he said would âbring a focus on jobs to the portfolioâ.
Former treasurer Chris Bowen was moved by Labor leader Anthony Albanese to bring a jobs focus to the climate and energy portfolio.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
22 January 2021
Chinese healthcare workers protest over wage arrears
On January 16, hundreds of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers at Suixian Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Henan Province marched to the local government building, demanding unpaid salaries. Many of them have not received any pay for months. The government responded by arresting more than 20 healthcare workers.
The hospital has stopped paying bonuses and merit-pays since May 2019. Management kept deducting pensions and insurances from employees’ salaries but these amounts were never used to pay for actual pensions and insurances. One doctor said he has only received the full amount of his monthly salary once in the past two years.
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The town where Wendy Farmer was born no longer exists. It was literally dug up for coal in the 1980s when mining in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley expanded. As a schoolkid, she took tours of the old power stations, of their towers belching out the planet-warming emissions that stripped the blue from the sky. We were taught that it was just steam – and the power stations make the weather, Farmer says. But it was Victoria’s backbone, it powered the whole state. There’s a lot of pride still in those old stations and mines.
Qantas taken to High Court over COVID-19 sick leave
Tony Yoo | December 23, 2020 11:29am |
More on: Image source: Getty Images
Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) will face off against employees in the High Court of Australia on Wednesday.
Four unions are appealing against a Full Federal Court decision last month that the airline did not have to provide sick, compassionate or carer’s leave for staff that had been stood down.
Qantas stood down about 20,000 employees at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when it became apparent its planes would be grounded.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) claims Qantas’ denial forced some seriously ill workers to take a redundancy for financial reasons.