Matt Chambers MAY 18, 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN BP Australia now employs 5514 people, down from 6624 a year ago. Oil giant BP has slashed up to 1000 Australian jobs in the past year, mainly in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, as it slims down to focus on fuel retailing in the face of competition from global trading giants. While 355 of the jobs are associated with the closure of the ­Bulwer Island refinery in Brisbane in May last year and others with outsourcing maintenance to UGL, the cuts are more severe than ­observers expected and are indicative of the major restructuring under BP Australia president Andy Holmes. Accounts filed last week with ASIC reveal BP Australia now employs 5514 people, down from 6624 a year ago when the local unit’s 2014 accounts were lodged. An unspecified number of the 1110 jobs — thought to be less than 200 — have…

Sue Mitchell May 18, 2016 The Age Ready-made meals have become the latest weapon in the battle for market share between Coles and Woolworths. Coles has doubled the size of its Coles Brand ready-made meals range, improved the quality and reduced prices by as much as 28 per cent in a strategy that is bound to undermine Woolworths’ renewed push into the $600 million chilled meals category. Coles general manager meal solutions Charlotte Rhodes said the new range – which includes meals such as pasta bolognese, lamb rogan josh, beef stroganoff, pumpkin soup and seafood chowder – was created to offer time-poor families on a budget a cheaper and more nutritious alternative to take-away food. “We looked at every product we sold in fresh and made it the best quality we could and ensured that the customer was getting a product that was even tastier than they could get from…

Jay Nathan May 17, 2016 CSNews Hidden compliance traps and pitfalls can lead to legal implications. For many businesses, especially those in the convenience store space, navigating and ensuring employment law compliance can be extremely difficult and costly. With high employee turnover, it is necessary for these businesses to have application processes that are seamless and effective — processes that can easily supply the labor the business needs in a timely fashion. However, it can be difficult to comply with local, state and federal law during the hiring process. If the law changes, so must a business’ application and onboarding processes. We at PeopleMatter teamed up with employment law attorneys, Kristen Baylis and Stephanie Lewis of Jackson Lewis, to discuss some hidden compliance traps and pitfalls that often lead to legal implications when ignored. How Can the Hiring Process Create Legal Claims Against the Company? In a word: discrimination. In…

Simone Mitchell MAY 19, 20162:13PM news.com.au OPINION AN announcement from Coles was met with a little excitement when it landed in our office last week. The news that had us salivating was that 40 “healthy takeaway-style cuisines” were being introduced to their supermarkets. And it had us fantasising about the ready-to-eat meals in UK supermarkets. Anyone who has had the thrill of spending time in a Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury’s or Waitrose in the UK will know that the Brits are spoiled for choice when it comes to cheap, quality convenience meals in their supermarkets. The issue of not being able to choose between Waitrose’s slow-cooked duck leg laksa or chicken and bacon forestiere on your way home is a lovely conundrum to face. Could it be that Australia will soon have something similar? When we finally got a look at the types of meals that would be on…

Ben Schneiders, Nick Toscano, Royce Millar May 19, 2016 The Age Burger giant McDonald’s is underpaying its Australian workers tens of millions of dollars a year under a cosy deal struck with Labor’s largest union affiliate that excludes weekend penalty rates. A Fairfax Media investigation has found the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) negotiated a 2013 agreement under which some McDonald’s employees are paid nearly one-third less than the award – the minimum pay and conditions safety net. Nationwide, workers at McDonald’s – Australia’s second largest employer – appear to be out of pocket by at least $50 million a year. Those affected include young workers who earn as little as $10.08 an hour. The findings are based on hundreds of payslips, obtained by Fairfax Media, and the leaking of an entire store’s roster that shows 63 per cent of workers at a large Sydney outlet are paid…

Jessica Irvine May 20, 2016 The Age Ever played the game where you try to name an Aussie industry that isn’t dominated by a handful of companies? Banks? Airlines? Supermarkets? Telcos?Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants to lead a nation of innovators, entrepreneurs and start-ups. But a new analysis proves what we’ve always known: Australia is prime breeding ground for monopolists, moguls and cartels. And, according to the analysis by Labor MP and former academic economist Andrew Leigh, it’s only getting worse. In a speech delivered to honour Melbourne University economist John Freebairn on Thursday night, Dr Leigh shared the fascinating results of a comb through IBIS World data on the revenue share of firms in 400 industries. The biggest four firms control more than four-fifths of the market in department stores, newspapers, banking, health insurance, supermarkets, domestic airlines, internet service providers, baby food, and beer and soft drinks. The biggest…