
Woodside Energy and Offshore Alliance will be going ahead with their meeting this week on Wednesday 23 August 2023.
This forum follows on from the Offshore Alliance’s meeting with members working at Woodside’s Angel Deep, Goodwyn Alpha and North Rankin Complex.
On Sunday 20 August 2023, all participants reached a consensus for the Alliance to serve Woodside with a notice of proposed protected industrial action in the event that the union’s proposed terms are not met as a result of Wednesday’s meeting.
Once the notice has been issued, a strike could take place from as early as 2 September 2023 — disrupting national shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Spokesperson for the Offshore Alliance and AWU WA Secretary Brad Gandy stated that members did not take industrial action lightly but Woodside has been leaving them with little to no choice.
“Woodside tried every tactic it could think of to avoid bargaining with its workers as a collective, but in the end the company failed to maintain the status quo it liked – one where what the company says goes.
“The Alliance first approached Woodside to bargain for an agreement to apply to the NWS platforms in May 2022. Woodside has dragged this out and brought us all along with them,” said Gandy.
Offshore Alliance members stationed at Woodside’s North West Shelf Platforms are requesting for a formalised agreement detailing industry standard terms and conditions, including: job security provisions, proper remuneration, roster security and an agreed classification structure.
A spokesperson from Woodside said: “Woodside continues to engage actively and constructively in the bargaining process. Positive progress is being made and the parties have reached an in-principle agreement on a number of issues that are key to the workforce.”
Negotiations officially commenced between Offshore Alliance and Woodside in January 2023 after the Fair Work Commission approved bargaining discussions between the two companies.