FIFO workers win new roster on Barrow Island
After more than nine months of negotiations, workers involved in the construction of Chevron’s Barrow Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant have secured a new collective agreement.
The deal was struck by the AMWU, ETU and CFMEU and covers more than 3,000 workers. Chevron does not employ any construction workers directly, so the new agreement is made with its infrastructure and construction contractors.
The major sticking point in bargaining had been the unions’ demand for “family friendly” rosters for the exclusively fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workforce. Prior to reaching the new agreement, they worked a punishing roster of 26 days on the island and 9 days off.
Situated 50km off the Pilbara, in Western Australia, Barrow Island is one of the most remote places in the world. It is a hot and harsh place where some of the strongest wind gusts in recorded history have been registered.
In the early 1800s it was used as a site for slave trading of Aboriginal people. From the 1880s it was mined for guano. Crude oil has been extracted there since 1967.
It is now the site of the biggest resource project in Australian history. Chevron’s LNG plant will have cost $55 billion by the time of its completion. It is set to mine 15.6 million tonnes of gas every year.
The island’s FIFO workforce is housed in accommodation on the island or on an old cruise ferry, the Europa. With limited phone and internet services, it is difficult for workers to communicate with friends and family at home.
Research at Edith Cowan University has shown that the incidence of depression among FIFO workers is more than double the rate in the general population. A number of workers on the project have committed suicide in the accommodation camps.
Despite the strain of the existing roster, the campaign for a new agreement was initially slow to get off the ground. Union membership rates on Barrow Island were low at first.
“Recruitment [to the unions] started in the ones and twos”, explained Dave Fox, AMWU construction organiser. He spoke to Red Flag about how the dispute developed. “We’re at the point now where just two weeks ago 91 people joined the AMWU in one week. This was in the face of some very petty acts of intimidation by some of the construction firms”, he said.
“Notices were sent out to workers pressuring them not to take industrial action and to report any ‘coercion’ from union delegates or organisers. Questionnaires were sent to all workers asking if they would participate in any industrial action … they claim this was to determine industrial capacity, which is just laughable”, Fox said.
He explained how the unions and their members grew numbers and built strength over the campaign. “[At first] some of the contractors had offered a roster of 26/9 with a 3 percent pay rise. We didn’t have the numbers then to pull on a strike, but the whole site knocked it back, giving us a good base to build from.
“By April we were ready to strike, but the commissioner stepped in, putting a halt to any action. At that stage we were offered 25/10, which was voted down. The next offer was 23/9, which was also voted down.”
With negotiations appearing to stall, Fox says union members voted by an overwhelming majority to strike. A deal was reached hours before union members – by then a clear majority – were to down tools on 4 September.
“A compromise of 23/10 was put on the table with a 5 percent pay rise”, Fox said. “This was taken to the membership and accepted by majority vote.”
After a long fight, the union says the Barrow Island agreement will now be the benchmark for other major resources projects with a FIFO workforce. “Inpex, Roy Hill, Wheatsone and future expansions are next.”
