Gorgon LNG Strike Averted

Protected industrial action on Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on Barrow Island scheduled for tomorrow has been averted, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU).

Namely, AMWU’s Western Australian branches and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) applied for a protected action ballot after months of negotiations with the contractor CB&I. The unions were seeking to change the current 26 days’ on 9 days’ off construction roster, meaning that workers have to spend almost a month at a time away from their families and communities.

Workers were seeking a roster of 20 days’ on and 10 days’ off, consistent with the recommendations of a recent bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the mental health of FIFO workers. However, a comprise solution was reached of a 23 days on 10 days off roster.

“Workers on Gorgon have secured the most family-friendly construction roster to date,”  said AMWU WA Branch Secretary Steve McCartney. “This was never about the money, as many in the business community and media wrongfully asserted. This has been 100 per cent about workers’ families and mental health. 

“The findings of the landmark Parliamentary Inquiry into FIFO suicides really left us no option but to use every means at our disposal to win family friendly rosters for our members.

“FIFO is no longer just a ‘young man’s game’ – we now have 60,000 FIFO workers in Western Australia, and many of them have husbands, wives and children.”

The project is under construction on Barrow Island, around 60 kilometres off the northwest coast of Western Australia. It includes a three-train, 15.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 terajoules of gas per day to Western Australia.

CB&I won USD 2.3 billion worth contract for the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation work on the Gorgon Project in July, 2011.