AAP July 25, 2012 TRUCK drivers are rallying outside Coles stores across the country calling for the retailer to be held to account for pressuring truckies and causing accidents. Around 20 Transport Workers Union (TWU) members have gathered outside a store on Sydney’s George Street chanting anti-Coles slogans as part of a national day of action by truckies against the retailer. The protesters say Coles is using its market power to squeeze suppliers including truck drivers, driving down conditions and safety standards. They say some owner-drivers in the Coles supply chain are working for as little as $8.60 per hour. TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon told the rally Coles was putting pressure on truck drivers “every day of the week”. “We see 5300 people seriously injured in truck incidents each year and 330 people killed in trucking incidents,” he said. “A third of all those truck incidents are involving products…

Michael Pascoe July 25, 2012 The Age ·The debate of Australia’s sugar consumption is heating up. ·Rory Robertson’s bets are getting bigger. ·Having successfully wagered Doomsday forecaster Steve Keen a walk to Mt Kosciuszko over Australian house prices not crashing during the GFC, he’s punting $40,000 that Big Sugar’s favourite academic paper is wrong. For hounding Peter Costello over being Australia’s biggest taxing Treasurer, Robertson once was described favourably by Ross Gittins as “that pesky Mr Robertson” delving deep into the statistics to prove his case against Costello’s protestations. Robertson is proving at least as pesky in his passion for questioning Australia’s fondness of sugar. Taxation or sugar consumption, it’s all a matter of understanding what statistics are credible to an economist, albeit one with a personal belief that sugar is a sweet poison. What makes a sucrose fixation a business story is the size of the Australian sugar and…

CSD Staff Jul 25, 2012 More than 100,000 people have signed a petition to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in Ontario convenience stores. The Ontario Convenience Stores Association is pushing a new petition to get permission to sell beer and wine in Ontario c-stores. According to The Globe and Mail report, the petition currently has 112,500 signatures from across the province, supporting the idea that there should be broader retail availability of beer and wine. Despite governmental promises to allow the sale of liquor in Ontario c-stores, nothing has changed for more than 30 years. Dave Bryans, Ontario Convenience Stores Association CEO, said some area c-stores are already selling alcohol to their communities if they don’t have stand-alone LCBO outlets. The Ontario Convenience Stores Association represents 7,500 of the 11,000 c-stores in Ontario.

July 25, 2012 The Age Update A move by grocery wholesaler Metcash to extend the war for consumer dollars to pubs and poker machines has prompted Senator Nick Xenophon to write to the company’s board urging them to consider the social and economic harm caused by poker machines before making an investment. “One of the great things about IGA supermarkets is they have proudly proclaimed they are not in the pokies business. In fact, it has been a point of difference highlighted here in South Australia in their advertising,” Senator Xenophon said. “If Metcash gets into the pokies business, it will be buying into the misery caused by the 40 per cent of pokies losses coming from problem gamblers. I expect individual store operators here in South Australia will not be happy with this news.” He said the irony of Metcash’s reported move is that Woolworths and Coles are coming…

Chris Zappone July 26, 2012 The Age Petroleum company Caltex will close its Kurnell refinery in Sydney in a move that will cost 330 jobs. The decision follows a year-long review of the viability of the site. Caltex said the refinery would be closed in the second half of 2014 and would be converted to a “major import terminal” to supply imported fuel for Australian customers. The closure would eliminate about 330 positions, the company said. Kurnell is one of two major refineries operated by Caltex, with a second facility in Brisbane. Caltex, which provides about one-third of Australia’s refined petrol, began a review of its refinery operations in August 2011. The closure of the Kurnell facility ends months of speculation about the fate of the refineries that have hung over employees at both facilities. Caltex has been squeezed by the strength of the Australian dollar and the “challenging outlook”…

Adele Ferguson July 26, 2012 The Age Supermarket giant Coles continued to close the gap in the battle with its bigger rival Woolworths – getting some help from the government’s $2.8 billion assistance package – but its liquor business once again was a drag on overall revenue. The booze division is an issue that hasn’t been lost on management, which confirmed that the unit – which includes Liquorland and Vintage Cellars – is slicing at least 0.9 per cent off the group’s food and liquor revenue. In sharp contrast, Woolworths is going from strength to strength in its equivalent business, which boasts the successful Dan Murphy’s discount outlets. The relative mismatch puts pressure on Coles to lift its game given Woolworths turned over more than $6.6 billion in revenue in the past year. Coles is estimated to have made less than half of that. A decade ago, Coles dominated the…