SBS management have now responded to a majority of the Alliance’s claims for an improved collective agreement for SBS employees. View their responses here or contact Katie Nguyen katie.nguyen@alliance.org.au (NSW) or Jenny Farrar jenny.farrar@alliance.org.au (VIC) for full details.

The wild storms that savaged the central coast of New South Wales last June, stranding a coal ship carrying 770 tonnes of fuel, inspired many of the winning stories recognised at Northern NSW Journalism Awards over the weekend. Judges praised NBN television reporter and the region’s Journalist of the Year, Paul Lobb, for his “compelling, entertaining and extremely newsworthy body of work,” covering the plight of the Pasha Bulker, which lay aground off Nobby’s Beach in Newcastle for three weeks. His reports “brought to life the human drama” judges said.  View a full list of winners here.

SBS management have agreed to review the company's use of fixed term contracts, especially in the areas of TV and radio, during recent negotiations for a new collective agreement. Alliance representatives continue to the raise the issue of job certainty, with more than half of staff employed on a non-permanent basis. Talks will resume next Thursday. SBS members who have any matters they would like to raise should contact Katie Nguyen on 02 9333 0930 or katie.nguyen@alliance.org.au

The Beijing Olympics are shaping up as the most restricted since the Nazis hosted the Berlin Games in 1936, Alliance federal secretary Christopher Warren said yesterday, following revelations that China will not lift its internet curbs for the for 20 000 journalists covering the Games in Beijing next month despite previous promises.

After months of negotiations and hard work from delegates, a collective agreement for Sydney's Company B, who this week scored a Helpmann Theatre Award for their hit musical Keating!, is close to being finalised. Pay parity, a company principle important to members (all crew, front of house and administration staff receive the same hourly rate of pay) will remain.

All employees received a wage increase of 4% last week after the Alliance and Opera Australia finalised negotiations for a new 2008-2011 agreement last month. The total increase achieved for Alliance members over the course of the agreement is 15.3% with CPI catch-up in 2011 for any lag over the whole agreement.