What’s your Sunday worth? Not as much as it was last weekend, it seems.
It’s been a big week for those who earn money working for The Man.
The Bureau of Statistics says the average Australian years $60.892, or $1164.60 a week. This constitutes a wage growth of just 1.6 per cent over 12 months, the slowest annual pace on record.
And the Fair Work Commission says Sunday penalty rates paid in retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy industries should be reduced from July – cutting some pay packets $77 day.
Full-time and part-time workers in retail will have their Sunday penalty rates dropped from 200 per cent to 150 per cent of their standard hourly rate, while casuals will go from 200 per cent to 175 per cent.
Hospitality employees will face a reduction in Sunday pay from 175 per cent to 150 per cent. Fast-food employees’ Sunday rates will go from 150 per cent to 125 per cent for full-time and part-time staff, and casuals will go from 200 per cent to 175 per cent.
“This is a bad day for working Australians,” said Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney.
Meanwhile Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour quit his job after criticism about his pay. He earned $5.6 million last year.
Property continues to soar. Clearance rates in Sydney were at an extraordinary 83% at the weekend. And tomorrow promises to be a super Saturday is Melbourne where nearly 1400 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer.
Clearance rates reached 79 per cent last Saturday.
The banks have employed former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as the CEO of their lobby group, The Australian Bankers’ Association. Ms Bligh has a strong reputation as a consumer advocate and will bring a new dimension to the debate about banking culture and a Royal Commission. Watch this space.
AMP is losing 570 advisers a year – and now, even student advisers are quitting the once iconic financial brand.
Figures show the number of students attending AMP’s Horizons trading academy fallen by 25 per cent in the 12 months to December 21, 2016.
At its height in 2014, AMP had 3767 advisers but now has 3519. But according to The Financial Review, the departures coincided with a sharp decline in investment flows .
For the full year to December 31, 2016, AMP saw net flows into its wealth management arm drop from $2.2 billion in 2015 to $336 million. Ouch!
As the life insurance industry struggles with it image after a series of newspaper exposes about payouts, they are using different rewards to convince us of the validity of their products. QANTAS is now offering reward points for life insurance policies bought through its partner TAL. You’ll get 10,000 points for a policy and 30,000 for two products. The airline already sells NIB health insurance with reward points. Read more about it in our extended article.