1. Industrial action imminent from airport ground handling staff
Ground handling crew hired by major airlines including Qantas, Etihad and Emirates are set to vote on moving a strike following failed talks with their employer to resolve a stalled enterprise agreement negotiation.

“Existing employees are working longer hours, but are being refused the security of more guaranteed hours in their agreement and told they’ll have to work longer shifts before being paid overtime rates,” a Transport Workers Union spokesperson said.

“Qantas outsourced baggage ground handling to Dnata and other third-party crew services in 2020, resulting in 1700 redundancies. The Federal Court found the move was in breach of the Fair Work Act, a verdict the airline is appealing in the High Court,” The SMH reports.

The Union’s national secretary Michael Kaine also spoke on the matter: “Dnata workers are bravely voting to get rights to take protected industrial action because of their shocking treatment despite making huge sacrifices for this company,” he said.

2. Stocks to take a dive today
Stocks are set to slump by over 100 points today following negative comments from the central bank boss Jerome Powell. Last week stock markets rose ahead of what Jerome Powell had to say at a major conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but instead of being positive on inflation and inferring interest rate rises might soon end, he played hardball, warning that he won’t be playing Mr Nice Guy any time soon, and the Dow Jones Index dived over a 1000 points. This will be bad news for local stocks today and for the rest of the week.

3. Big week for data
On Wall Street, it’s a big week for economic data and interest rates and Australia also awaits some important economic readings as well. For data-lovers, the US statisticians will release a pile of economic indicators this week including consumer confidence, US purchasing managers numbers, construction spending, factory orders, job cut figures and then the unemployment and employment readings. And here we’ll see home prices, business investment, purchasing managers ordering and our leading indicators for the overall economy. These numbers will have a big bearing on what happens to interest rates.

4. Albo has high hopes for Jobs Summit
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has high hopes for his Jobs Summit hoping a culture of co-operation between business and unions will be the dividend. The Jobs Summit will be held on Thursday and Friday at Parliament House, and the PM wants to walk away from the talkfest with an Accord-like agreement between business and unions, just as Labor achieved in the 1980s under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. It’s a big goal and will be a big news story for employers, employees and the stock market, by next weekend.

5. Lewis Hamilton “grateful to be alive” after F1 crash
A horror crash took place at the Belgian GP race last weekend, with former world number 1 Lewis Hamilton being launched into the air on the first lap after hitting Fernando Alonso. Hamilton admitted that the incident was his fault and that he’s “grateful to still be alive”.

Alonso called him “an idiot” for the incident — to which the seven-time champion responded by saying he would refuse to talk to the Spaniard. (The Guardian)