Woodside seeks damages from CFMEU

A small portion of the striking workers at Woodside Petroleum's Pluto project have staged a protest at the operation's gates as the company prepares to sue the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and its assistant Joe McDonald.

ABC radio this morning reported that Woodside had filed legal proceedings with the Federal Court in relation to the ongoing strike by some 1,600 workers at the $12 billion project.

Mr McDonald was reported as saying he was seeking legal advice.

The CFMEU and other unions have distanced themselves from the striking workers, who are on their eighth day of an unlawful strike, after the new workplace relations umpire, Fair Work Australia, issued a return to work order on Saturday.

The workers are angry over a plan by Woodside to allocated new dongas to workers at the start of each roster, otherwise known as motelling.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, on behalf of a number of contractor employers at Pluto, on Wednesday successfully sought an injunction from the Federal Court to get people back to work.

However, workers have defied that order.

Meantime, this morning about 150 workers staged a protest at the gates of the Pluto project, and were reported by ABC radio to be walking in front of work buses to delay the flow of traffic into the site.

The action caused traffic to build up for several kilometres on the Dampier Highway in Karratha and was frustrating locals.

Woodside said today that 200 more workers had returned to work, with about 1,600 workers now on site.