GMB has opened a postal ballot for 10,000 Centrica members on whether they would consider taking industrial action following the company’s proposals to modify contracts .
The ballot announced today (3 August) is for both British Gas workers and those from Centrica-owned PH Jones, a heating installation and repair service, and will run until 17 August.
Centrica announced in June that it planned to cut 5,000 mainly managerial roles from its business, as well as making changes to contracts.
Last month it issued HR1 and S.188 notices, which allow it, in a “last resort”, to terminate workers’ contracts and issue new ones with updated terms and conditions.
In response to the notices, GMB national secretary Justin Bowden said the union’s members had “lost trust in Centrica” and accused the company of putting a gun to its members’ heads at the start of the negotiations.
He added: “Centrica’s problems were not caused by the loyal engineers, call centre workers and back office staff who have done everything asked of them over years and years of corporate-led decline, but yet again they are being asked to pay a price.
“Centrica’s approach is to do ‘to’ and ‘at’ the workforce, not ‘with’ the workforce – fire and rehire is the epitome of a board bereft of ideas other than cut, cut, cut. They’ve broken the trust of employees.
“Without a clear strategy for growth, that recognises the workforce are the greatest assets that British Gas and PH Jones have, there is nothing to differentiate Centrica’s latest ‘plan’ from all the other failed efforts to date.
“GMB members will now decide what happens next.”
In response, a spokesperson for Centrica said: “We understand the impact the proposals have on colleagues, but we need to make changes to win back customers, grow our company and protect jobs in the long run.
“Our employees’ base pay and pensions will be protected, but simplifying and modernising their terms is essential if we’re to become more flexible and price competitive.
“We have over 80 different employee contracts with 7,000 variations of terms, many of which are outdated and stop us delivering for customers. We are committed to reaching a negotiated settlement with our colleagues which sets us up for future success.”