Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares are in the headlines.
This comes as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) oil and gas company's lengthy legal stoush with unions over collective bargaining rights looks to have come to an end.
What's happening with the company's workforce?
The Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers Union, together known as the Offshore Alliance, have been battling Woodside's management to secure collective bargaining rights for Woodside's employees at its offshore gas platforms.
Over the past seven months, Woodside has filed nine legal petitions against the push for collective bargaining. Those appeals included arguing that the unions had fraudulently collected signatures from some members to support the bargaining rights.
But those appeals look to have been for naught. As The Australian Financial Review reports, the Fair Work Commission ruled that the Offshore Alliance had legitimately secured the majority support of production workers.
That means Woodside will need to undertake collective bargaining at its North Rankin, Goodwyn Alpha, and Angel offshore for the first time since 1994.
Over the past 30 years, the company has preferred to directly engage with workers on an individual contract basis.
However, deputy president of the Fair Work Commission Melanie Binet dismissed that penchant.
According to Binet (quoted by the AFR):
The fact that Woodside prefer to negotiate individually with its workforce does not weigh against the granting of the determination. In fact, this is the precise reason why the statutory power to make the determination exists, to compel employers who would prefer not to bargain.
"Woodside tried every trick their lawyers could think of to frustrate their employees' desire to bargain for a collective agreement and in the end they only delayed the inevitable," Daniel Walton, spokesman of the Offshore Alliance said.
Woodside is reviewing this week's decision. A spokeswoman commented:
Woodside highly values our people. We have directly engaged with our workforce for decades, and continue to do so on an ongoing basis to ensure we have the right settings in place to support the best outcomes for our teams and for the company.
The company estimated its fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers already earn more than $200,000 per year.
How have Woodside shares been tracking longer-term?
Down just over 1% in intraday trading today, Woodside shares, as pictured below, have leapt 43% over the past 12 months.
