Workers at Chevron Corp.’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. in Australia have decided to extend their planned strike to at least three weeks, accusing the energy giant of evading negotiations.
“Offshore Alliance lawyers have sent Chevron a new Notice of Protected Industrial Action which will commence after our first 7 days of PIA commences on Thursday 7 September,” the union said in a statement on Facebook. “The new Protected Industrial Action Notice will increase work bans and OA [Offshore Alliance] will have 24 x 1-hour stops, every day for 14 days from Thursday 14 September”.
The Offshore Alliance, which comprises the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Australian Maritime Union, said the majority of workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities in Western Australia voted in favor of d ‘a strike to press for improved employment standards. Of the 253 Offshore Alliance members working at Gorgon, 249 voted in the strike vote, all in favour. Of Wheatstone’s 188 members, 184 voted, all in favor of a strike, according to an earlier statement from the Offshore Alliance.
Meanwhile, all six members of the Electric Union in Gorgon and two in Wheatstone voted in favor of a strike, according to the release of the results of the vote.
The latest Chevron Australia strike ballot results confirmed by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) showed all 37 AWU members with voting rights said yes to a strike, while nine members of Communications, Electricity, Electronics, Energy, Information, Posts and Plumbing and the voting Allied Services Union of Australia also supported a strike.
“The Offshore Alliance has 98 per cent union density at the Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities and its members have voted 100 per cent to take Protected Industrial Action in support of an EBA union. [enterprise bargaining agreement],” said the Offshore Alliance’s results announcement.
The union later announced that its lawyers “have served Chevron with a formal notice of protected industrial action at all 3 West Coast facilities, effective Thursday, September 7, 2023.”
The second notice received at Chevron Australia means the strike would now last at least three weeks.
The Offshore Alliance said the expanded action was in response to Chevron Australia trying to sidestep a union-initiated settlement and choosing to put forward its own terms. The union said an enterprise agreement put forward by the company for a vote had garnered only seven supporters out of 979 employees.
Chevron had confirmed receipt of the first strike notice from the Offshore Alliance. “While we do not believe that industrial action is necessary to reach a settlement, we recognize that employees have the right to take protected industrial action and will continue to take steps to maintain safe and reliable operations in the event of disruption at our facilities facilities.” Chevron Australia said in a statement emailed to Rigzone. “We will also continue to work through the bargaining process as we seek outcomes that are in the best interests of both the employees and the company.”
In a statement to Rigzone on the new strike notice, it maintained that it continues to pursue bargaining.
“We will also continue to take steps to maintain safe and reliable operations in the event of an outage at our facilities,” Chevron Australia reiterated.
The Offshore Alliance also said a simultaneous referral agreement submitted by Chevron Australia contractor Altrad-AGC has now been ruled by the FWC as “genuine and bogus” with several people involved in a “sham exercise”. Altrad could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.
The strike comes amid a plan to upgrade the Wheatstone plant, which Chevron Australia says “is one of the largest LNG projects in the world and the largest resource project in Australia’s history”.
Chevron Australia said on August 23 that it is working to increase the facility’s capacity from 205 terajoules per day (TJpd) to 215 TJpd, or five percent.
Possible gas shortage
The Offshore Alliance said a strike at Gorgon and Wheatstone would lead to supply uncertainty in Western Australia.
In an Aug. 22 statement on a planned strike against Woodside Energy Group Ltd.’s North West Shelf plant, the union warned: “Gas users in Western Australia could face increased uncertainty about the gas supply in the coming weeks when Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone plants could also face industrial action.”
“The three plants supply about 45 per cent of WA [Western Australia] gas consumption”, says the statement published on Facebook.
But on August 24, the Offshore Alliance said it had reached an agreement in principle with local company Woodside to avoid strike action. The enterprise agreement with Woodside includes new wage terms and job security, the union said in a statement on Facebook.
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