Issue No 90 | 30 March 2001 | |
NewsRecord Low Aussie Dollar Adds to Surging ProfitsBy Paddy gorman
Steaming coal producers have won a 20% increase in coal export prices with the Japanese, further boosting the Australian coal industry's profit surge. The new benchmark price of US$34.50 a tonne has been established in the settlement between Rio Tinto's Coal and Allied subsidiary and the Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power Co. The latest 20% steaming coal price rises comes on top of the recent 7.5% increase for high quality coking coal and a 25% jump in price for semi-hard coking coal. The across the board increases in coal prices have been fuelled by stronger oil prices, continuing concern about nuclear energy and the long lead times required to bring major gas projects on line. While the price increases alone will significantly lift coal profits, the record low Australian dollar means that coal companies are reaping a profit bonanza. With the pendulum having swung in the coal industry there are simply no more excuses for the coal companies to deny workers job security and a fair share of the prosperity we have helped create.
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Interview: On the Up and Up On the eve of new figures showing the slide in union membership may be bottoming out, ACTU secretary Greg Combet takes stock of the state of the movement. Unions: Organising Theory Labor Council�s Chris Christodoulou reports back from this week�s ACTU Organising Conference Economics: The Failure of the Third Way In his presentation to this week's ACTU Organising Conference, John Buchanan painted a dark picture of the emerging labour market. History: Emblems of Unity The Gregory J. Smith Collection of Trade Union badges was auctioned today in Sydney. Smith compiled a book on 763 of his remarkable collection which was published in 1992. Legal: Della's Compo Plan Labour lawyer Richard Brennan places the NSW workers compensation reforms under the microscope. International: East Timor Goes Union Workers in the fledgling nation have established their equivalent to the ACTU to build a safety net for workers. Satire: Management for the Post-Industrial World A new management fad is sweeping the post-industrial world, which has major social and political implications at the macro and micro level. We have called it "Purge Management Strategy" (PMS). Review: Surviving The Temptations of TV Island Cultural analyst Mark Morey rakes over the coals of American TV culture to find very little is there.
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