Chevron calls for Fair Work intervention

Chevron has asked Fair Work Australia for assistance as it seeks to strike a deal with Offshore Alliance and avoid further strike action at its North West LNG projects.

The two parties are in the process of drafting an enterprise agreement for workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone gas facilities following a lengthy negotiation which led to strikes last month.

The strike action came to an end on September 22, when the parties agreed to finalise terms after accepting recommendations from Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan.

But Offshore Alliance has since accused Chevron of reneging on its commitment to the recommendations, with its workers voting to resume strike action at the facilities from next week.

In a statement, a Chevron spokesperson told Business News the two parties had interpreted a few key items relating to per diems, accomodation and flights for training and cabin sharing arrangements at Wheatstone differently.

“We remain committed to implementing commissioner Bernie Riordan’s recommendation by resolving these items,” they said.

“Once we receive further clarification from the commissioner, we will be able to finalise the enterprise agreements and provide them to our employees to vote on.

“We have received notices of intention to take protected industrial action at our Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities for work stoppages and partial work bans commencing 19 October 2023.

“While we don’t believe that industrial action is necessary, given we are seeking the assistance of the Fair Work Commission to resolve the small number of outstanding items between the parties, we will continue to take steps to maintain safe and reliable operations in the event of disruptions at our facilities.”

On Friday evening following its vote to resume strike action, Offshore Alliance spokesperson Brad Gandy said Chevron had shown bad faith in its negotiations and accused the LNG producer of going back on its word.

“It’s disappointing but hardly surprising Chevron has welched on the deal given the bad faith they have shown bargaining with their workforce over the last year or so,” he said.