AGC Industries Pty Ltd (AGC) and three other contractors applied to Fair Work Australia (FWA) on 22 January 2010 for orders pursuant to s.418 of the Fair Work Act 2009 to stop industrial action after employees engaged in on-site construction work at Woodside’s Pluto liquefied natural gas plant project at the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia’s North West went on strike on 22 January 2010. Other contractors made separate applications on 23 January 2010 as employees of other contractors also commenced strike action
The stoppage related to a proposal by Foster Wheeler WorleyParsons Pluto Joint Venture, the principal contractor on the Pluto project, to change the accommodation arrangements for workers on the project. A stoppage by workers at the project in December 2009 over the same issue was the subject of proceedings and an order by FWA in December 2009.
The Pluto project, which commenced around July 2007, is the biggest construction project in the North West and has a workforce of over 3500 people.
Employees on the project work according roster cycles of either 4, 5 or 6 weeks on and one week off. Initially, accommodation units (dongas) at the project village site were assigned to individual workers, however, due to an acute shortage of accommodation, the project managers proposed that from 4 January 2010 workers returning from their rostered week off would be accommodated at a donga that was available and no longer be assigned a particular unit. This is known as “motelling”.
On 4 January 2010, motelling commenced however, when employees were asked on 21 January 2010 to provide written acknowledgement of the arrangements, they stopped work in protest from various times on 22 January 2010.
In proceedings before FWA, Commissioner Cloghan made an interim order that industrial action not occur and not be organised. The interim order is to apply from midnight 24 January 2010 until 28 February 2010.