Chevron has asked Australia's Fair Work Commission (FWC) to intervene in its dispute with workers on strike at two major liquefied natural gas facilities, banking on new laws that came into effect in June and which empower the industrial arbitrator to force parties into an agreement they themselves are unable to make.
Here's what we know so far.Yes. Chevron has asked the FWC for an "intractable bargaining declaration" which, if granted, would end strikes and allow the tribunal to hammer out an agreement, either by mandating both sides hold further talks or dictating the terms of the deal itself.The laws have never been used before, and experts say without a precedent, it is difficult to tell how the tribunal will rule.
Purvinas, who is also a lawyer, said in the Virgin dispute, four years of negotiations without a deal had worked against the union's case. Chevron would have to demonstrate a sustained attempt to negotiate with unions for the tribunal to rule in its favour, he added. Shae McCrystal, a professor of labour law at the University of Sydney, said the strikes would not necessarily be seen as evidence of intractability.
A union official who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media said the workers expect a decision in "days not weeks."
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