Union members at Chevron Australia's Wheatstone gas platform have voted to strike as pay and work condition negotiations stall, in line with their colleagues at Chevron's downstream operations in Western Australia (WA).
The Wheatstone platform, 225km north of Onslow in the WA Pilbara region, services Chevron's 8.9mn t/yr Wheatstone LNG downstream facility. Staff at Wheatstone LNG and the nearby 15.6mn t/yr Gorgon LNG last week voted in favour of industrial action, a day before union members at Australian independent Woodside Energy's offshore platforms agreed to back a union-brokered deal.
All 37 members of the Offshore Alliance (OA) at the Wheatstone gas platform voted in favour of minimum 30-minute work stoppages to support the OA in negotiations with Chevron, which is the sole WA LNG producer with no union-backed EA covering its workforce.
"With a 100pc yes vote for protected industrial action on Chevron's Wheatstone platform, we have now got 100pc support from members across all three Chevron facilities," the OA said on 28 August. "Our members are locked and loaded and ready for protected industrial action."
Meetings between the OA and Chevron are ongoing, and seven days' notice is generally required for any industrial action to commence.
