GMB Union has announced a fresh wave of industrial action involving Centrica workers, which it says makes the strike the longest in the British Gas owner’s history.
The announcement by the union today (10 March) follows fruitless talks between itself, the British Gas owner and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).
Centrica and GMB were understood last month to be at a “critical stage” in the negotiations through ACAS, but the union today said its engineers “overwhelmingly” rejected a revised offer from the company at the arbitration service.
Engineers will walk out on 12 to 15, 19 to 22 and 26 to 29 this month in protest at Centrica’s ‘fire and rehire’ proposals, which the union says remain an obstacle to the acceptance of any deal.
The latest wave of action will see the strike reach its 42nd day, which GMB says is the longest in Centrica’s history.
Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary, said: “Twelve more strike days will go ahead at British Gas after gas and electrical engineers overwhelmingly rejected a revised offer at ACAS because the company didn’t take fire and rehire off the table.
“The company needs to understand its fire and rehire plan is the big obstacle to members accepting a deal – they must withdraw it now.”
Bowden said after 30 strike days more than 250,000 homes are in a backlog for repairs and 350,000 planned annual service visits have been axed. He said Centrica was “misleading the media” by claiming it was catching up after 24 hours.
He added: “The behaviour of British Gas bosses is hurting workers, customers and ultimately company shareholders. GMB’s executive has determined action could continue to mid-April in this deadlocked dispute.”
In response to the latest development, a Centrica spokesperson said: “We have plans in place to manage industrial action but we’re sorry for any disruption this is causing to our customers.
“We’ll continue to prioritise vulnerable customers and emergency situations.”