GMB Union has announced its ongoing dispute with Centrica will last until April, with 12 new strike dates being unveiled this morning (5 February).
They will follow four days of strike action starting today and will be in three further lots of four day strikes, each beginning at 00.01 hours on 12, 19 and 26 February and with the last ending at 23.59 on 1 March.
As part of its major restructure, Centrica issued HR1 and S.188 notices in July last year which allow it, in a “last resort”, to terminate workers’ contracts and issue new ones with updated terms and conditions. Around 7,000 British Gas engineers have taken part in 12 days of industrial action against Centrica’s ‘fire and rehire’ proposals.
GMB claims that as a result there are more than 170,000 homes in a backlog for repairs and that 200,000 planned annual service visits have been cancelled by the company.
Justin Bowden, the union’s national secretary, said GMB’s Central Executive Council (CEC) had decided to continue strike action through to mid-April.
Bowden said Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea had “thrown down the gauntlet” to the gas engineers and was “doubling down” on the fire and rehire plans.
He added: “The majority of the field staff are not prepared to accept the imposed cuts to pay and conditions. Mr O’Shea threw down the gauntlet to the gas engineers on hated fire and rehire and they picked it up.
“The CEC determined they should be supported on behalf of the entire membership of the union and other union members. Longer term, the practice of fire and rehire should be outlawed.
“The CEC will consider the matter again at its April meeting.”
In response to the latest announcement from GMB a Centrica spokesperson said: “We have strong contingency plans in place to ensure we will still be there for customers who really need us, and we’ll prioritise vulnerable households and emergencies.
‘’We know change is difficult but we have offered a fair deal that has been negotiated over 300 hours with unions – where base pay and pensions are protected. Eighty three percent of our employees have already agreed to the new terms.”
Giving evidence to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on Tuesday (2 February), O’Shea said he “regretted” the company’s interpretation of the law which is that S.188 notices have to be issued as soon as the employer believes there is no possibility of a negotiated settlement.
During the hearing, O’Shea also said police were investigating after his wife and teenage son had been the recipients of excrement sent to them with a note referring to the fire and rehire proposals.
He added: “Only yesterday, my wife and teenage son had a package of excrement delivered to them with a note about fire and rehire. This is something that affects absolutely everybody. I am not immune to this.”
In December, it was announced that a majority of Unison members who were balloted on whether to accept Centrica’s revised proposals on contract terms and conditions voted to accept the final offer.
In addition Centrica Storage employees, which are represented by Unite, have accepted the offer while 4,000 non-unionised employees are in the process of accepting the company’s proposals by signing new contracts.