Woodside has narrowly averted impending industrial action at its North West Shelf gas platforms after reaching an in-principle deal endorsed by Offshore Alliance and ETU members this morning, while protected action ballots at Chevron are set to close today.
The Offshore Alliance and the ETU say they will hit Woodside's North West Shelf gas platforms with industrial action as early as Saturday if a bargaining meeting this week disappoints workers, as the threat of broader strikes loom.
Unions are calling on Chevron's Gorgon and Wheatstone workers to again reject a unilateral agreement offer and instead "lock in behind a 100% 'yes' vote" for industrial action, as offshore workers join their onshore colleagues in considering strikes at key LNG facilities.
Workers employed by major hydrocarbons producer Woodside have overwhelmingly endorsed protected action at three key gas platforms off WA's north-west coast.
BHP has played down the impact of industrial action at its Queensland coal mines, highlighting that the protected action won support from only about 15% of Operations Services production employees in Queensland.
CFMMEU mining and energy division members have this week kicked off protected action in BHP's Queensland coal mines, sparking early sparring over the company's proposed ban on allowing workers back into their accommodation camp while on strike.
The FWC has refused to suspend engineers' industrial action at a Virgin Australia subsidiary while their employer pursues an intractable bargaining declaration, in an early test of the new Secure Jobs provision.
NTEU members have voted to escalate industrial action, including another state-wide strike, if Victorian universities maintain their refusal to of union demands to replace most casual jobs with permanent positions.
Law firm Ashurst says the looming multi-employer bargaining laws might explain the results of a survey in which 65% of employers say they intend to initiate agreement negotiations in the next six months.
Towage company Svitzer is set to lock out its harbour tugboat workforce, claiming it has been forced into it by continuing disruptive protected action by three maritime unions.
