In the wake of Chevron and unions backing a FWC recommendation to resolve their bargaining dispute, a FWC full bench has today temporarily adjourned the company's intractable bargaining declaration application, but has left the door open for unions to file a strike-out motion.
After overseeing three further days of negotiations, FWC member Bernie Riordan says Chevron and unions are "on the precipice" of "historical first agreements" and has urged them to accept by 9am tomorrow his recommendation to resolve the bargaining dispute or risk the settled issues "simply evaporating".
Victoria's Andrews Labor government says the FWC should order a "confined" four-week period of post-declaration bargaining if it grants the IBD sought by the UFU in a bid to break a deadlock with Fire Rescue Victoria.
FWC President Adam Hatcher today timetabled Chevron's applications for three intractable bargaining declarations at its Western Australian LNG operations, setting down a full bench hearing hearing from September 22, while also directing the company to resume mediation.
As Chevron workers prepare to start industrial action this afternoon and the FWC continues week-long talks to resolve the underlying bargaining dispute for its Wheatstone downstream and Gorgon facilities, the tribunal's president will conduct a preliminary hearing next week of the company's bid for an intractable bargaining declaration for its Wheatstone platform.
The UFU's Victorian branch says the FWC should issue a groundbreaking intractable bargaining declaration to overcome stalled enterprise agreement negotiations with Fire Services Victoria, but it should not allow a post-declaration bargaining period to "undo and revisit" terms that have already been agreed.
A FWC member has issued the "strongest recommendation" for AMWU members at an Ampol refinery to cease industrial action and vote up a new deal, after expressing her view that she lacked the power to convene a second post-PABO compulsory conciliation conference.
The Offshore Alliance and the ETU have notified Chevron that it will hit its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities with rolling stoppages and work bans from next Thursday, with the unions deriding its decision to put an unsupported deal to a vote tomorrow.
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 RBA will put its bargaining offer directly to employees this month, governor Philip Lowe told an inquiry this morning, after failing to reach agreement with FSU.