Mining giant BHP Billiton has called on the Gillard government to overhaul current executive pay disclosure laws.
The mining giant states that current Australian laws require companies to disclose executive salaries in a way that requires multiple figures for each director.
Citing the UK as an example, the mining giant is calling for new disclosure rules which would require companies to disclose a single pay figure for each director.
Tony Abbott’s productivity working group has slammed ‘union-friendly’ clauses in government contracts, claiming the practice costs the government millions of dollars in lost productivity.
The head of the working group, Steve Ciobo, has called on a future Coalition government to issue new industrial relations guidelines which would prevent deals on wages and conditions struck on major projects being used as a benchmark for future negotiations.
Ciobo told The Australian his group might recommend that the Victorian government’s industrial relations guidelines be rolled out nationally, if the Coalition wins the next federal election.
Auto giant Ford has doubled its quarterly dividend, in a piece of positive news for the US auto industry.
After halting its dividend payments for five years as a result of tough market conditions for the US auto sector as a result of the GFC, the company has doubled its quarterly dividend from five cents to ten cents.
According to the BBC, shares in Ford were up 2.4% on the news.
In the US, the S&P500 is up 0.4% to 1466.95. Australian dollar went up to US105.95 cents.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
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