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Gas Supply At Risk, Workers Plan To Strike (Read 242 times)
whiteknight
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Gas Supply At Risk, Workers Plan To Strike
Dec 2nd, 2016 at 11:10am
 
Gas supply in four states at risk as 600 Esso workers plan to strike
(ABC News)
November2 2016

The Federal Government has raised concerns a proposed strike by more than 600 Esso workers could impact gas supply across four states.   

The Australian Workers' Union (AWU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union have notified Esso their workers will strike indefinitely from next Friday after enterprise bargaining talks collapsed.

Workers at Esso's Longford, Long Island Point and offshore operations are involved in the industrial action.

Unions have opposed a push by the company for a two weeks on, two weeks off roster for offshore workers.

Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said he was concerned about the potential impact of the industrial action.

"It will impact not just on Victoria, but also New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania," Mr Frydenberg said.

"The Fair Work Commission reserves the right to intervene in those matters, and let's see if the negotiations play out constructively or not."

Esso is one of the main gas suppliers in Victoria, and its reserves also supply South Australia, NSW and Tasmania.
Workers 'frustrated at lack of progress'

AWU Victorian secretary Ben Davis said the Esso work force was frustrated at the bargaining process and would welcome intervention by the Fair Work Commission.

He said if no agreement was made, the protected industrial action could last weeks or months.

"We've notified an indefinite stoppage that's due to start Friday next week," he said.

"In response to that, the Victorian State Government yesterday applied to Fair Work to terminate the bargaining, which basically means the outstanding agreements would be arbitrated, rather than any industrial action or further negotiations occurring.

"It's fair to say the workforce has had enough. They're frustrated with the lack of progress and bargaining."
Roster issue a sticking point.   

AMWU organiser Steve Dodd said workers were not willing to accept increasing their rosters from seven days to 14.

"The way it's structured at this point in time, there's a whole range of conditions that we would like to see met before we would even consider doing that," he said.

Esso said in a statement it was not appropriate to comment on a matter before the commission, but maintained it was committed to reaching a resolution.

Negotiations have been ongoing for more than two years, with Esso last year locking maintenance workers out of its Longford Gas Plant near Sale in south-east Victoria.

An Esso spokesman said at the time the lockouts were to "counteract the disruptive effect of the union bans".

Esso has said the roster changes were needed because of "increased stress on the business".

Workers currently work on a one week on, one week off basis.

Esso chairman Richard Owen earlier this year said efficiencies were needed, and the company would not budge on its bid to introduce two-week rosters offshore.

"We reduce the number of helicopter take-offs and landings that we require," he said.

"It improves the efficiency on the platform so we don't lose so much time as people come on, changeover between shifts, and so it provides more productivity efficiencies as well as safety.
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Valkie
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Re: Gas Supply At Risk, Workers Plan To Strike
Reply #1 - Dec 2nd, 2016 at 2:40pm
 
The real story is that we will have to import the gas that we have exported.

Simply because the brain dead government allowed deals to be done with overseas customers that take our gas from us at a reduced cost (lower than we pay) and now we will have to pay them to import it back to us.

Its all a conspiracy to force us to accept Fracking.

Great idea, we live in a desert country and the moronnns want to pollute our water table.

Hang the lot of them,.
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Unforgiven
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Re: Gas Supply At Risk, Workers Plan To Strike
Reply #2 - Dec 3rd, 2016 at 2:01pm
 
Valkie wrote on Dec 2nd, 2016 at 2:40pm:
The real story is that we will have to import the gas that we have exported.

Simply because the brain dead government allowed deals to be done with overseas customers that take our gas from us at a reduced cost (lower than we pay) and now we will have to pay them to import it back to us.

Its all a conspiracy to force us to accept Fracking.

Great idea, we live in a desert country and the moronnns want to pollute our water table.

Hang the lot of them,.


That is total BS. Australia does not import gas and never has.

Australian gas retailers are only considering importing LNG because Australian produced gas is too expensive.

Its not true that Australian households are subsidizing Japan's households. Japan pays international market prices for gas.

The problem is monopoly supply conditions in Australia and very high retail mark-ups on gas.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-24/having-spent-200b-to-export-lng-is-austral...

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/aussies-pay-65pc-more-for-our-gas-tha...

Quote:
AUSTRALIAN households struggling with power bills are subsidising the cooking and heating costs of Japanese families.
The stark disparity in the cost of Australian-produced gas here and overseas will be on the agenda of energy ministers meeting in Canberra on Friday.
The survey provided to news.com.au found that, in July, gas produced in Australia was sold to households in Adelaide for an average of $13.90 per gigajoule, compared to $8.42 for the same product in Japan.
A similar comparison found Brisbane residents paid $10.12 per gigajoule, while those in Sydney paid $9.62.
On average, Australian domestic prices were 33 per cent higher in July than those for Australian-produced gas in Japan.
The gap was even greater in June, with Australians paying 62 per cent more for Australian gas than Japanese consumers.
The price difference and the extra burden on family bills will be discussed Friday at a meeting of energy ministers at the Council of Australian Governments Energy Council, the first under federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg.
The suggestion is that Australian households are subsidising gas exports at a time when a glut in the global market is expected to peg overseas revenue.
Options include reserving a proportion of gas production for domestic consumption, or encouraging greater production to lower prices. Neither measure has support.
Another proposal is to make details of actual production and long-term reserves more transparent to give authorities a better idea of how the industry is operating.
“But what is effectively happening is that gas producers are ensuring domestic gas supply in Australia is rationed and prices kept well above comparable gas prices in offshore markets,” investment analyst Bruce Robertson told news.com.au.
“A first step to counter this would be clear disclosure.”
Mr Robertson said gas was currently shipped at a cost of about $US0.75 per gigajoule, with liquefaction costs of about $US1.50 per gigajoule.
“Bearing in mind the high costs of transport and liquefaction, it makes no sense that Australian gas should be cheaper in Japan — one of the highest cost markets in the world,” he said.
“Australian consumers would be correct to question why this is the case.”
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