Strikes averted at Woodside after marathon talks
Industrial action at Woodside is likely to be averted after 15 hours of negotiations resulted in an in-principle agreement between the company and unions.
Industrial action at Woodside is likely to be averted after 15 hours of negotiations resulted in an in-principle agreement between the company and unions.
Unions from the Offshore Alliance said members at Woodside’s LNG facilities off Western Australia’s northwest coast would meet on Thursday night to consider the agreement reached with the company late on Wednesday.
Alliance spokesman and Australian Workers Union WA secretary Brad Gandy said Woodside had made a strong offer. “Offshore Alliance members were at all times prepared to take whatever action necessary to secure an industry standard enterprise agreement,” he said.
“Despite the lengthy road to this point, we are relieved that Woodside has now taken a more pragmatic approach and decided to offer our members an enterprise agreement with industry standard terms and conditions.”
In a statement, Woodside said the company continued to engage “actively and constructively in the bargaining process”.
“Substantial progress was made at talks held on Wednesday and the parties have reached in-principle agreement on a number of issues that are key to the workforce.” the company said.
“We welcome the union’s reported statement this morning and will continue to work to finalise an agreement. Woodside has not received any notices of protected industrial action.”
Mr Gandy said if members accepted the deal it would leave Chevron as the sole operator in the WA gasfields without an enterprise agreement with its workforce.
Protected action ballots of union members working for Chevron closed on Thursday.
“Chevron has chosen to roll out agreements to its Gorgon and Wheatstone Downstream workforce that are not supported by the alliance as they do not address key bargaining claims and do not meet the industry standard,” Mr Gandy said.
“The alliance will be strongly recommending to members to vote ‘no’ to these non-union Chevron agreements, just as it did when Chevron did something similar for the Wheatstone Platform workforce.
“The result of the Wheatstone Platform ballot was a 98 per cent no vote. Chevron should expect more of the same.”
European gas prices have soared this week, jumping as much as 20 per cent. Europe is not a major buyer of Australian LNG but traders have worried that they would have to contest with heightened demand from Asia.
Energy analyst Saul Kavonic said markets had overreacted to the threat of strike action at Woodside. “European gas traders can stop hyperventilating now,” he said.
