Australian government, unions and employers to consider industrial bargaining reforms at jobs summit.
Qatar detains 60 workers who protested against unpaid wages ahead of the Fifa World Cup, while Ericsson and Nokia join a long list of companies exiting Russia following the country’s invasion of the Ukraine at the start of the year. Meanwhile, stagnant wages will be one of the key topics at Australia’s upcoming jobs summit and China’s unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market.
Ericsson, Nokia to leave Russia
Ericsson will gradually wind down business activities in Russia over the coming months, while its Finnish rival Nokia also plans to follow suit by the end of the year, reports Reuters.
The two companies are the latest in a list of organisations exiting Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February.
“By the end of the year, the vast majority of our employees in Russia will have moved on from Nokia, and we have vacated all of our offices,” said a Nokia spokesperson. “We will retain a formal presence in the country until the legal closure is completed.”
Australia consider reforms for ‘broken’ bargaining system
Australia’s new government will consider reforms to the country’s ‘broken’ industrial bargaining system at an upcoming jobs summit this week.
The government, unions and employers will consider key economic challenges like rising inflation and interest rates, and stagnant wages at the two-day meeting, to be led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, reports Reuters.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said they aim to address ways to accelerate pay increases as Australia’s surging inflation is forecast to rise three times as fast as wages.
Inflation in Australia hit a 21-year high last quarter, and while wages rose the fastest in almost eight years last quarter, growth is only about one-third of the 7.75 percent peak inflation forecast for late this year.
China’s youth unemployment at record high
China’s unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market as the economy has been badly hit by Covid-19 outbreaks and a property crisis.
Payments by China’s unemployment insurance fund jumped 256.6 percent in June, according to Reuters’ calculations based on data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security – the highest since the data series began in January 2013. The youth unemployment rate rose to a record high of 19.9 percent in July.
Qatar detains protesting workers ahead of World Cup
Qatar has detained more than 60 workers who held a rare protest against unpaid wages, with some threatened with deportation just months before the Fifa World Cup, reports Middle East Eye.
NGO Migrant Rights said the Al Bandary Engineering and Electro Watt Company had not paid its workers for the last six months.
Detained workers told Migrant Rights that at least 25 to 30 people are being kept in one room.
