Chevron LNG workers to strike as deal deadline passes
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The news: An extended deadline that had delayed strike action at two of Chevron's West Australian LNG plants has passed without a deal, heralding partial strikes today and potential total strikes from next Thursday.
The numbers: Roughly 500 members of the Offshore Alliance were to stop work for three hours at the Wheatstone and Gorgon onshore plants from 1pm local time and for one hour at the Wheatstone offshore platform. Last year the three plants supplied about 5%-7% of the world's LNG. Unions have told Chevron work stoppages in one-hour blocks will result in outages of between three and 11 hours per day from Friday, and will escalate to total, 24-hour strikes for two weeks if no agreement on wages and conditions is reached. Spot LNG prices have lifted more than half a percent since an hour before the strike deadline.
The context: The limited strikes were delayed from Thursday, but last minute talks and mediation from the Fair Work Commission failed to produce a deal. Australia is the biggest LNG exporter in the world, with most of its buyers in Asia.
What they said: "Despite the Offshore Alliance giving Chevron plenty of opportunity to sort out EBA’s across the 3 Chevron facilities, they will finally be facing their day of reckoning," Offshore Alliance said in a Facebook post.
