The Fair Work Commission has approved a protected action ballot at the Gorgon LNG project's biggest contractor, CB&I, raising the possibility of protected strikes as the already delayed project nears completion.
Labor has today accused Australian Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd of favouritism towards his own workforce to get his agreement across the line.
A revised enterprise deal with an extra day off in each roster cycle for the Gorgon LNG project’s largest contractor, CB&I, has been voted down, after a ballot closed on Friday evening.
The AWU has called for Esso Australian to return to negotiations after workers at its Bass Strait oil and gas operations overwhelmingly rejected proposed new enterprise agreements.
A proposed agreement that sought to reduce working days each roster period from 26 to 23 days for the Gorgon LNG project's largest contractor has been voted down.
The AWU expects employees at Esso Australia's Bass Strait oil operations to reject the company's proposed new enterprise agreements, which include shifting from seven-day to 14-day roster cycles for offshore workers.
The massive $54 billion Gorgon LNG project could gain an assurance of industrial peace for the largest part of its workforce, if workers employed by one of its major contractors accept a new FWC-brokered enterprise deal with fewer working days in each roster cycle.
The Federal Court has reserved its decision in a case in which Esso Australia argues that members of the AWU took unprotected industrial action, which cut its oil and gas production in Bass Strait in March and April.
The AiG and unions are at odds over time in lieu and make-up pay provisions in modern awards, with the employer group critical of an AMWU push to calculate TOIL at overtime rates and the ACTU in turn arguing the AiG's proposal would reduce existing entitlements.