Chevron’s USD 54 billion Gorgon LNG project facing industrial action

Chevron’s USD 54 billion Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia is facing more delays as hundreds of construction workers building the project have voted to take protected industrial action in support of “family-friendly” rosters.

“A secret ballot of more than 1,000 members authorised by the Fair Work Commission resulted in 94 percent of votes cast in favour of protected industrial action, which could include stoppages and paperwork bans,” the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union said in a statement on Monday.

Protected industrial action can now commence at any time, once seven days notice has been given, according to the statement.

The Western Australian branches of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) applied for the protected action ballot after months of negotiations with Chevron’s lead contractor, CB&I, failed to offer any significant change to the 26 days’ on 9 days’ off construction roster.

“Workers are seeking a roster of 20 days’ on and 10 days’ off, which is a moderate step towards changes to rosters recommended by a recent bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the mental health of FIFO workers,” the statement said.

The current roster is 26 days on and 9 days off, meaning workers have to spend almost a month at a time away from their families and communities.

“Despite the recommendations of the Parliamentary inquiry, we’ve seen no real movement on rosters,” said AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney.

“Workers are prepared to spend two-thirds of their time on Barrow Island. They just want one third of their lives for their families,” McCartney added.

CFMEU State Secretary Mick Buchan said the unions welcomed the overwhelming support of workers in the protected action ballot.

“While protected industrial action is always a last resort, we owe it to workers to do everything we can to achieve family friendly rosters,” he said.

Chevron said recently it will likely miss its year-end target to ship the first liquefied natural gas cargo from its Gorgon project on Barrow Island.

The start-up of the Gorgon project was pushed back several times. The giant LNG project was originally budgeted at $36.7 billion and was expected to start producing the chilled gas at the end of the third quarter of 2014.

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LNG World News Staff; Image: Chevron Australia