Court extends Pluto injunction

The Federal Court in Perth has extended an injunction preventing any workers at the Pluto project from taking further industrial action while the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA says it will pursue damages and penalties from striking employees.

A court injunction, sought late last month by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA on behalf of 13 contractors, was due to expire today.

The injunction was granted during the middle of a week-long strike by half of the 3,200 workforce at the $13 billion gas project.

Workers were striking over a plan to introduce motelling, a system where each worker is allocated a new room at the start of each roster.

The injunction has been extended to February 18. Anyone found breaching the order could face penalties of up to $22,000.

The extension comes after a series of meetings between Fair Work Australia deputy president Brendan McCarthy and project manager Foster Wheeler Worley, union representatives and delegates of the workforce.

The three unions representing workers - AMWU, CFMEU and CEPU - said in a joint statement today that at a previous meeting, Mr McCarthy advised he would convene a meeting between FWW and the unions and between the unions and Woodside early next week.

Mr McCarthy also advised he would make another trip to Karratha to meet with the workforce delegation.

Following the meetings, Mr McCarthy will write up recommendations for the parties, however Woodside and FWW are under no obligation to accept the comments as Mr McCarthy did not have the authority to arbitrate on any issues.

"The unions are happy that DP McCartney has finally been able to bring Woodside to the table. They've not been interested in talking to the unions or workers thus far," joint union spokesperson Les McLaughlan said today.

"It is unfortunate that it has taken this long for people to come to the table to have serious discussions about the issues affecting workers on site but the unions are committed to achieving a sensible outcome, let's hope others are too."

Woodside said it would not comment on the meetings.

Meantime CCIWA said it will pursue damages and penalties from workers that participated in the week-long strike.

A CCIWA spokesperson said the option to pursue the workers was available under the interim injunction.

He said the option was yet to be decided by the Federal Court.