Centrica has been criticised by several trade unions for its approach to negotiations with employees over modernising contracts, with one saying it “smacked of blackmail”.
The company this week 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.
The British Gas owner announced last month it would be undertaking a major restructure in which 5,000 jobs, the majority of which are managerial roles, would be cut.
It also revealed that it would be simplifying and modernising more than 80 different employee contracts, each with multiple variants, with many of the agreements dating back more than three decades.
Unite regional officer Mark Pettifer said his union believed Centrica was offering “inferior pay and employment conditions” as a result of the changes and denounced the move as “deplorable”.
He added: “It is part of a disturbing trend where employers are using the pandemic to shed staff and erode employment conditions.
“Centrica is adopting the same tactics as BA and is using Covid-19 as a smokescreen to cut jobs of loyal and dedicated staff who have worked through the lockdown providing energy to the nation.
“Centrica has been in consultations with the unions for the last fortnight over its future plans and now in an act of bad faith unveils its ‘fire and rehire’ plans. It smacks of blackmail – ‘If you don’t do what we want, we will issue notice of dismissals’.
“Unite urges the Centrica management to have an urgent rethink and engage constructively with the trade unions to tackle the specific issues facing Centrica and, more generally, the UK energy sector post-Covid-19.”
Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, said: “Retail energy businesses face extreme financial pressure at the moment but this will still be a shock to Centrica’s dedicated workforce.
“The company has issued advance notice of redundancy to all staff and recognised unions. While it states that it hopes to agree change, this threatens to impose lower employment conditions on all staff if they do not agree – this is an extreme step.”
Centrica has faced major challenges in recent years, including the haemorrhaging of more than 1 million British Gas customers in the last two years alone.
A Centrica spokesperson said the company had been open about the changes it needs to make and win back customers, grow the company and protect jobs in the long run.
They added: “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 7000 variations of terms, many of which are outdated and stop us delivering for customers.
“We want to continue with constructive talks and the s.188 notice provides an option of last resort if it turns out we can’t work together to achieve this. We understand the impact this will have on colleagues and this is not an option we want to use but we must make these changes and we must conclude these talks before the winter period.’’