PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Workers at US energy major Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone Downstream gas processing facilities in north-west Western Australia have rejected an enterprise agreement not endorsed by their negotiating team.

The Offshore Alliance earlier this week notified Chevron that its members would begin protected industrial action (PIA) at all three facilities on September 7. The PIA includes 20 types of industrial action, including numerous work bans all the way up to complete stoppages of work.

This legal PIA is sanctioned by Australia’s Fair Work Commission.

The Offshore Alliance said on Friday that Chevron had now applied to the Fair Work Commission to seek assistance in dealing with the dispute.

Offshore Alliance members are seeking remuneration outcomes which align with benchmark industry standards that apply to Chevron’s contemporaries Shell and INPEX and are soon to apply to Woodside. In negotiations to date, Chevron has proposed remuneration terms lower than some Tier 2 oil and gas operators in Australian waters. 

“Our members at Chevron quite reasonably just want terms and conditions of employment that meet the industry standard, some say over rosters to ensure they’re family-friendly, and job security so they can’t be replaced by temporary labour hire employees,” Offshore Alliance spokesperson, Australian Workers’ Union Western Australia secretary Brad Gandy said.

“They also want to reach agreement on other matters relating to overcycle, training standards, rates of pay, and travel arrangements.

“After this humiliating result at the ballot box with proposed enterprise agreements that Chevron touted as a potential solution to the ongoing dispute, Chevron’s only real option is to change tack and take our members’ claims seriously,” said Gandy.

The Offshore Alliance is an alliance between the Australian Workers’ Union and the Maritime Union of Australia.