Chevron has rejected claims by a prominent union the company is preparing to send hundreds of local jobs offshore.
Chevron has rejected claims by a prominent union the company is preparing to send hundreds of local jobs offshore.
A partnership between the Australian Workers’ Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, Offshore Alliance took to social media today to warn of looming “bloodletting” at the company’s Elizabeth Quay office, amid allegations the gas producer was preparing for cuts in the company’s Perth offices “on almost the same scale as their 2020 purge”.
Chevron cut around 800 jobs in Western Australia in 2020, at the height of uncertainty surrounding the Covid pandemic and a depressed oil price. At the time, the figure accounted for nearly one-third of its local workforce.
Offshore Alliance today suggested 600 jobs were currently in line for “exporting to Bengaluru, India”, where Chevron is setting up an engineering and innovation excellence centre that will employ 600 staff by the end of the year.
“The Chevron engineers who are being lined up first by the Chevron bosses can reapply for their jobs as long as they relocate to Bengaluru, where the average salary for an engineer is about (AUD) $30,000 per year,” the union claimed in a Facebook post.
A Chevron Australia spokesperson denied 600 local jobs were on the line, but said it was reviewing its organisational structure as its parent company sought to reduce its global workforce of more than 40,000 people.
No decisions have been made on cuts to the local workforce, the spokesperson said.
“Globally, Chevron is looking to deliver $US2 to $US3 billion in structural cost reductions by the end of 2026, largely through optimising our portfolio, leveraging technology to enhance productivity, and changing how and where work is performed,” they said.
“In line with these goals, changes to our organisational structure will be made, and these are likely to result in a reduction of fifteen to twenty per cent in our global workforce.
“We’re working through what changes will be required for our Australian operations.
“We will communicate with our people when decisions have been made and at the appropriate time.”
The spokesperson said the Bengaluru facility was a separate project and would support Australian and global operations by “providing services such as in engineering and artificial intelligence solutions”.
Chevron’s Australian director of operations Danny Woodall told a recent Energy Club of WA event that technology including AI would be a key part of its operational review.
The Offshore Alliance offensive comes the same week as the gas producer’s American parent company announced 600 job cuts in California, in preparation for a shift of its company headquarters to Texas.
Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects off the Pilbara coast are understood to employ around 2,000 staff.
Offshore Alliance and Chevron have had a tense relationship at times, highlighted by a protracted negotiation over an enterprise agreement in 2023 which led to the union’s members walking off the job.
