United Group Resources (United) applied to Fair Work Australia (FWA) 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 for 48 hours on 1 December 2009.
The stoppage, which followed a meeting addressed by CFMEU officials and others on 30 November 2009, related to a proposal to change the accommodation arrangements for workers on the project.
The Pluto project, which commenced around July 2007, is the biggest construction project in the North West and has a workforce of about 3300 people.
Employees on the project work according roster cycles of either 4, 5 or 6 weeks on and one week off. Currently, accommodation units (dongas) at the project village site are 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.
In proceedings before FWA, Deputy President McCarthy said he was satisfied that industrial action had occurred and that further industrial action was probable. Accordingly, His Honour made an order that industrial action stop and not be organised. The order is to remain in force until 18 January 2010.