Big gas build set back again
Chevron's $55 billion Gorgon LNG project off the coast of WA could be set back by industrial action, with workers voting this week.
Unions for the fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) staff on Barrow Island have recommended protected industrial action as a way to get a more family-friendly roster.
The massive floating gas facility is 90 per cent complete, but is months behind schedule.
Chevron wanted to ship the first LNG cargo in 2015, but has been forced to concede that this is unlikely.
The threat of strikes comes after the union failed to change the roster setup in recent enterprise bargaining.
“The company is refusing to move so they've left our workers no other option but to take action, there's nothing else left in the bag of tricks,” Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Steve McCartney told reporters on the weekend.
Construction workers on Barrow Island work 26 days on, 9 days off, but unions want this changed to 20 days on, 10 off.
Close 1,800 workers will vote this week on an industrial campaign that could see work bans and rolling stoppages of up to 24 hours.
“We've seen too many workers take their lives on these jobs and the impacts on their families is horrendous,” Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Mick Buchan said.
“It's about time they started to listen to the workers and look after those that build these mega projects and give these huge multi-billion-dollar returns.”
Chevron is keeping its distance, saying it was a matter between the contracting companies (CB&I/Kentz) and the unions.
“Contractors continue to negotiate in good faith with the respective unions and their workforce representatives in an effort to resolve the impasse,” a Chevron statement said.
But the unions want Chevron involved, arguing that the company had the power to shorten rosters if it wanted to.
“Chevron will always point to the subcontractor but we know who we have to beat — we have to beat the multinational that made $25 billion last year off the back of these workers,” Mr McCartney said.
“This is clearly the biggest single issue that our members have on this job... to be able to have that quality time at home, to be able to see their children and get some decent break,” Les McLaughlin from the Electrical Trade Union told the ABC.
“This is just the start, this is the first job that's come up and it will come up on others and I can tell you that the feeling of those workers on other jobs is; ‘When is it our turn to have a say?’”