Australian unions strike against Inpex Ichthys LNG plants

The Offshore Alliance union in Australia announced on Tuesday that all three Inpex Ichthys facilities for liquefied gas had begun a strike.

The ?Offshore Alliance, comprising the ?Maritime Union ?of Australia and the Australian Workers' Union, said the action was taken after Fair Work Commission-facilitated bargaining failed to resolve key claims on pay and conditions.

The Ichthys work bans and stops come as Japan is facing a possible LNG 'crunch' due to the Iran War. Australia is Japan's biggest LNG supplier.

In a Facebook post, the union stated that "despite significant progress made in FWC-facilitated negotiations with INPEX last week, they fell short on many fundamental claims."

"Our?INPEX Members have had enough.

It added that the group would escalate its?industrial actions until INPEX agreed to?fair industrial outcomes.

The strikers are at three different facilities: the Ichthys LNG Plant in Darwin, its offshore floating storage, production and offloading (FPSO) facility, and offshore central processing (CPF).

Inpex, when contacted about the strike, declined to comment.

The company stated that "Inpex would continue to engage in good faith with its employees to achieve a fair and equitably agreement."

The union group, which is ?working with the Electrical Trades Union, said on May 18 that ?it had served ?the Japanese gas giant with a strike notice at the 9.3-million-metric-ton facility after talks over pay and conditions ?broke down. In April, the Fair Work Commission in Australia required that 326 out of 346 unionists vote to strike after six days of negotiation. The strike action was originally scheduled to begin on May 27-28, but the union group announced on May 26 it would not be taking place due to the progress made in negotiations.

(source: Reuters)