The Offshore Alliance—a partnership between the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA)—has built its brand on being the loudest voice in the room for offshore oil and gas workers. Quick to condemn other unions for signing so-called “substandard” enterprise agreements (EAs), the Alliance has carved out a reputation as a militant watchdog. But scratch beneath the surface, and that narrative starts to unravel.

The Offshore Alliance suffers from a convenient amnesia since early 2014, the Offshore Alliance has played a central role in negotiating agreements across the offshore sector. Ironically, the same framework it now denounces as weak or inadequate was shaped in part by its own hand. Internal documents and corporate correspondence reveal that Alliance representatives were instrumental in brokering deals with companies such as Brunel, Saipem, Skilled Offshore, and McDermott Australia. If that’s not a masterclass in historical revisionism, what is? More Here.

The Alliance has consistently targeted the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), and more recently the ETU accusing them of endorsing lacklustre EAs. Yet, the Alliance has collaborated with these same unions on multiple agreements over the years—agreements it now derides. It’s a convenient double standard that smacks of political theatre rather than principled advocacy.

Take, for instance, the Alliance’s repeated claim that it was “locked out” of recent negotiations with UGL. The reality? Correspondence submitted to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) shows that UGL did, in fact, engage the Alliance—only for the Alliance to walk away. Yet it continues to flog the “exclusion” narrative to rally outrage. Who’s misleading who? More Here.

If the Offshore Alliance truly wants to scrutinise subpar agreements, it should start by looking in the mirror—specifically at the AWU, with whom the Alliance is utterly dependant on for the AWUs broad coverage. The AWU has quietly signed off on dozens of EAs in 2024 alone which no other union was invited to bargain, despite those unions having traditional coverage.

Many of these deals are riddled with flat rates, casual-only arrangements, and watered-down entitlements—including 15% casual loadings instead of the standard 25%. Few, if any, rise above the very agreements the Alliance lambasts, like the UGL HUC EA or the UGL CO2 EA. The common thread? Chifley Financial Services income protection schemes embedded in the agreements, funnelling revenue back to the AWU—even where it has zero membership. The optics are clear: AWU gets the kickbacks, and workers get sold short. More Here and Here.

The Alliance waxes lyrical about being excluded by the AMWU, CFMEU, and ETU from the agreement-making process on the UGL HUC and CO2 agreements—but that’s simply not true. As it has been ponted out before they were invited and declined to be part of the negotiations. However the Alliance has excluded the other unions from the agreement-making process on many occasions. The Alliance also fell short of the very standards it demands from others.

Let’s explore this together.

Exhibit A: A String of Agreements That Exude All Other Unions

Below is a selection of AWU-driven or endorsed agreements from 2024 and 2025, all of which tell the same story: low standards, exclusion of traditionally relevant unions, and employer-friendly conditions.

• Altrad Ridgebay Holdings Pty Ltd Offshore Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AE528280) – No better than UGL HUC EA. Read More.
• Programmed Offshore Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Greenfields Agreement 2024 (AE527869) – Casual employment only. Full-time onshore Rigger Wheatstone 2017 $54.72 per hour. Casual Programmed EA Rigger $69.23 remove 25% $55.38 per hour. That’s 1.2% better than the 2017 rates, not the 22.1% the Alliance claims the rate should have increased by. Read More.
• Programmed Offshore Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Catering Greenfields Agreement 2024 (AE527871) – No MUA; casual only
• SIERA Marine Management Pty Ltd and AWU Marine Engineers Maritime Offshore Oil and Gas Industry Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AE525021) – AIMPE-covered work
• Atlas Programmed Marine Pty Ltd Decommissioning Greenfields Enterprise Agreement 2023 (AE523453) Signed off in 2024– Casual employment only, 15% loading. Senior trade $97.22 per hour. Remove the 15% casual loading and you get a full-time flat rates of $82.64 per hour. In-line with UGL HUC Senior trade.
• OSM Australia Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Catering Agreement 2025 (AE528851) – No MUA; casual only
• BW Offshore Greenfields EA 2024 (AE528255)
• Programmed Offshore (Australia) Pty Ltd Offshore Maintenance HUC Greenfields Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AE527940) – Signed off in 2025 Same as UGL HUC EA. Read More.
• Wood BW Opal Offshore Maintenance Services Greenfields Agreement 2024 (AE527897) – Signed off in 2025 Same as UGL HUC EA. Read More.
• Baker Hughes Services Australia Pty Ltd Subsea Field Services Enterprise Agreement 2024 – 2028 (AE527811)
• Australian Offshore Solutions Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Catering Agreement 2024 (AE526716) – No MUA; casual only
• Wood Offshore Brownfields Services (Western Australia) Greenfields Agreement 2024 – 2028 (AE524567) UGL HUC EA Just ahead. Read More.

Exhibit B: Offshore Alliance Facebook Post 17 May 2025

In a previous post here and here, the Offshore Alliance claimed that workers should be targeting a 28% increase in another post they claimed 30% increase—both claims based on the 2017 Wheatstone rates. As we pointed out in our story here CPI adjusted is 27.4%. We will use 28% as per the Alliances posts. Also not that these are not flat rates. The rates used is the full-time base hourly rate.

Wheatstone 2017 CW3 Rigger – $54.72 + 28% = $70.04 per hour (plus penalties)

It now seems the Alliance has quietly backed away from that ambitious figure, instead floating a more modest 22.1% increase:

Wheatstone CW3 Rigger – $54.72 + 22.1% = $66.81 per hour (plus penalties) from above post.

We can only speculate, as the Alliance regularly tosses out figures without ever explaining how they’re calculated. So, let’s apply their own logic to the Programmed Offshore Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Greenfields Agreement 2024—an agreement they themselves endorsed.

Rigger: $55.38 per hour Offshore (Programmed Offshore Pty Ltd – Western Australia and Northern Territory Offshore Construction Projects Greenfields Agreement 2024) That’s 20.64% below the $66.81 per hour benchmark the Alliance is now implying for an onshore rigger.

Not a single construction agreement the Alliance has recently signed comes close to delivering $66.81 per hour plus penalties for a rigger. The truth is: the Alliance doesn’t meet its own benchmark—and its Facebook spin doesn’t pass the pub test.

The Elephant in the Room

The Offshore Alliance may act as though it stands apart from the AWU, but in reality, it’s bound to it. Without the AWU, the Alliance loses its legal standing and coverage. That’s why you’ll never hear the Alliance utter a word about the hundreds of questionable agreements signed off by the AWU. Criticising them would be cutting off its own oxygen supply.

Until the Offshore Alliance applies the same scrutiny to its own backyard—especially its partner’s deals—it will remain what it increasingly appears to be: a union guilty of the very compromises and contradictions it accuses others of making.