From Australia (LB): Chevron’s Gorgon (SEN, 32/10) project has hit industrial action turbulence with hundreds of workers on the giant LNG project on Barrow Island voting to take industrial action over demands for more favourable work rosters.

This comes after a secret ballot of 1,000 members resulted in a 94% vote in favour of downing tools unless more “family friendly” work timetables are arranged. All of the workers are employed by lead contractor Chicago Bridge & Iron.

The workers can down tools anytime from now but have to give seven days’ notice. They are demanding that a work roster of 26 days on and nine days off is changed to 20 days on and 10 days off.

The 15-million-tonnes-per-annum Gorgon Project, now 90% complete, is already months behind schedule and has blown out by almost 60% to $54 billion in costs.

The protected action was sought by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union after negotiations with Chicago Bridge & Iron hit turbulence.

Gorgon is the largest LNG project built in Australia. But in August, the supermajor told investors that it may miss its revised year-end target to ship first gas cargoes due to potential labour disputes, weather disruptions and equipment teething problems.

Gorgon, initially budgeted at $37 billion, was originally meant to start production at the end of third-quarter 2014, some 60 months after the project was given the green light.

The company has tried to implement a new enterprise agreement for the Gorgon project, which the workers, in spite of the inclusion of pay increases and other benefits, had voted against four times in recent weeks.