Australia's tribunal rejects Japan's Inpex move to stop LNG strike

A?Australian labour tribunal rejected a?request by Japanese gas company Inpex on Sunday to stop a'strike of?some 400 oil and?gas workers in Australia at its Ichthys LNG Project.

The strike is now scheduled to last until the 23rd of June, with all cargoes being prohibited from loading.

An?Inpex employee stated that at least four cargoes of liquefied gas will miss their loadings during this period. Two condensate cargoes?have already missed loading.

Inpex filed a petition on Wednesday with the Fair Work Commission to stop the strike. They claimed that it would affect the Australian economy.

Michael Easton, the FWC's deputy president, ruled on Sunday that he did not find any evidence that a strike would have a negative effect on Australia's economy. However, he accepted Inpex’s opinion that there might be a production halt that could last for up to a full week.

After Inpex and the union groups failed in their attempts to reach a compromise, strikes grew to last up to eight hours just after midnight local time on Thursday (1600 GMT). Late on Friday, local time the strike periods were reduced to two blocks of 2 hours at the beginning and end of each shift.

Easton's ruling states that the negotiation between unions and employers to reach a contract of employment must continue.

(source: Reuters)