ITF: Barrow Island declared Port of Convenience

An International Transport Workers’ Federation Conference in Perth, Australia, on Monday declared Barrow Island, where Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project is located, a “port of convenience”.

“The ITF declares Barrow Island, located 50 kilometres northwest off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, a Port of Convenience (POC) when the first shipment of LNG leaves the island and calls on all affiliates to request any company or operator that has an interaction with the designated Port of Convenience to review their existing contractual relationships/arrangements with this port and to provide active solidarity support to the MUA and its members by any and all available lawful means,” a statement issued on Tuesday says.

Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project has blown out from US$37 billion to US$54 billion “due to the company’s ongoing mismanagement,” ITF president Paddy Crumlin said in the statement.

The motion passed by the ITF Dockers Section in Perth “condemns Chevron for its sustained campaign to undermine wages, conditions and workers’ rights in the corporation’s Western Australian operations and exploiting both Australian and foreign labour in its search for increased profits,” according to the statement.

The ITF said it will support Chevron workers seeking to join a union and demands that Chevron enters into a long-term relationship with the MUA that, according to Crumli,n has been excluded from an Australian island. ITF said that MUA respects Australian workers rights, wages and conditions and it is MUA’s right to represent them.

LNG World News Staff; Image: MUA