Workers' union recommends members to vote 'no' to Chevron Gorgon, Wheatstone agreements

Australia's Offshore Alliance workers union said Aug. 24 that it was "strongly recommending" members to vote "no" to Chevron rolling out two enterprise agreements to its Gorgon and Wheatstone workforce.

"Chevron has chosen to roll out agreements to its Gorgon and Wheatstone downstream workforce that are not supported by the alliance as they do not address key bargaining claims and do not meet the industry standard," Offshore Alliance Spokesperson Brad Gandy said in a statement.

The union's comments follow news of an in-principle agreement reached between the Offshore Alliance and Woodside Energy on an enterprise agreement to cover its platforms that feed gas to its North West Shelf LNG project, and Chevron rolling out two enterprise agreements to its workforce that are not supported by the union.

"The Alliance will be strongly recommending to members to vote 'no' to these non-union Chevron agreements, just as it did when Chevron did something similar for the Wheatstone Platform workforce," Gandy said. "The result of the Wheatstone Platform ballot was a 98% 'no' vote. Chevron should expect more of the same from these ballots."

The Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project is among Australia's largest resource developments and the nation's first LNG hub. The Wheatstone Project has a capacity of 8.9 million mt/year and a domestic gas plant, while the Gorgon Project comprises a three-train, 15.6 million mt/year LNG facility and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 Tj/d of gas to Western Australia.