Chevron to try to halt strike in Australia using untested law

Chevron Australia does not expect to reach an agreement with unions in the current dispute over wages and working conditions. Instead, it will try to use a new, untested legal option to halt strikes at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities at Gorgon and Wheatstone. Reuters reported this today. Unions at both facilities, which account for more than five percent of global LNG supply, are now preparing for full-scale strikes. Australia is the world’s largest LNG exporter.

Hundreds of employees at both facilities began brief strikes last Friday after five days of talks on wages and working conditions ended without an agreement. The unions said that, without a deal, they would step up the strikes from Thursday and planned to stop work entirely for two weeks.

Chevron said today that it sees no reasonable prospect of reaching an agreement. It will therefore ask Australia’s Fair Work Commission to declare the negotiations intractable. If this is accepted, the strike could be ended.