Updates outcome of talks
Chevron Australia said bargaining meetings with union organisation the Offshore Alliance (OA), mediated by Australia's Fair Work Commission, have failed to avert today's strike action.
Staff at Chevron's two Western Australia LNG export facilities, the 8.9mn t/yr Wheatstone and 15.6mn t/yr Gorgon, began strike action on 8 September at 1pm local time (05:00 GMT), as part of their campaign for a new enterprise agreement.
"We confirm conciliation sessions with the Fair Work Commission ended Friday 8 September without agreement," a Chevron Australia spokesman said. "Throughout this process we bargained in good faith and sought to reach an agreement that achieves a market competitive outcome which is in the interests of both employees and the company. We have been advised that industrial action will commence today. We will continue to take steps to maintain safe and reliable operations in the event of disruption at our facilities."
The OA workers initially resolved to strike from 6am local time on 7 September but progress in talks led the OA to push back the timing twice, first to 6am on 8 September and then to 1pm, a Chevron spokesman told Argus on 7 September.
The union has not defined the length of the strikes scheduled to take place between 8-14 September. But it has promised to escalate them to continuous total work bans of union members at Wheatstone and Gorgon from 14-29 September.
"[Chevron's] bargaining performance has been the most inept of any employer the union has dealt with in the past five years and our members have had enough," the OA said on 8 September. "When protected industrial action commences, [plants at] each respective facility will be shut down if there are not enough competent personnel to undertake handovers during work stoppages."
More than 20 different types of authorised industrial action are specified in documents lodged with the commission, including work bans of varying length and on overcycle, as well as limitations on performing certain tasks, such as loading vessels.
