Not Another Organising Paper: ‘Union Organising in the Australian Carbonscape’

Australia's natural gas industry is the country's third biggest exporter, with sales rising 175 percent to $90 billion between 2020 and 2022. Further growth seems assured given the Australian Government recently extended the life of Woodside's gas plant until 2070. Usually assessed in terms of climate politics, the industry faces a radically new workplace politics in the face of militant union organising by the Offshore Alliance. Since 2019, union membership has increased from negligible levels to well over 4,000. In the face of sustained employer opposition, over 50 union-based enterprise agreements now cover the industry. Industrial relations in Australia's offshore gas industry are being transformed. The rise of combative workplace industrial relations is puzzling. In other Australian industries, strikes and unionisation remain at historic lows. In LNG itself, wages are high (averaging above AU$200,000 annually) and there is little history of union militancy. This paper explores how the Offshore Alliance achieved this industrial transformation, and, more critically, how climate and geography questions are central to understanding the shift in industrial relations in the Australia's Carbonscape.

About the speaker

Caleb Goods is a Senior Lecturer of Employment Relations in the University of Western Australia Business School. His research focuses on examining work and workers lived experiences in the 'gig' economy. He is also passionate about explore the intersection of work and climate change and currently undertaking research exploring climate, work, community and just transition in the West Australian energy and resources sectors. Caleb's research has been published widely in leading international journals and he has an extensive track record of media and public policy engagement. Caleb is an active member of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Society, the Australian Labour Et Employment Relations Association and the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand.