A majority of Unison members who were balloted on whether to accept Centrica’s revised proposals on contract terms and conditions have voted to accept the final offer.
In June this year the company announced a major restructure which will see around 5,000 jobs axed and half its senior leadership team depart.
As part of the plans the company was proposing to modernise the terms and conditions of more than 80 different types of employee contracts with more than 7,000 variations in terms by reducing this to four standard contracts across the company.
Since July the company has spent more than 300 hours in negotiations with its four recognised trade unions; Unison, GMB, Unite and Prospect, as well as with representatives for non-unionised staff. Centrica added that following “tough negotiations” in which “significant concessions” were made, the unions put forward revised proposals for their members to ballot.
In an update published this afternoon (8 December) Centrica said out of 7,000 front-line office employees, most of which are represented by Unison, 86 per cent voted to accept the final offer following the negotiations.
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.
This outcome means that the company’s last resort of ‘firing and rehiring’ employees will not be necessary for its office staff and Centrica anticipates that the other 4,000 non-unionised employees who accept the new contracts will also be exempt.
The British Gas owner added that it is still awaiting the outcome of the ballot for the 8,000 mostly GMB-represented engineering staff and that a further GMB ballot for industrial action is expected to return results on 17 December.
Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said: “Our intention has always been to reach a negotiated settlement with our trade unions and colleague representatives, and I am grateful that our Unison and Unite represented colleagues have accepted our proposals and over 4000 non-union employees are processing new contracts.
“I’d like to thank those colleagues who have carefully considered, and accepted our final offer, recognising that change is critical to our future sustainability and protecting jobs at Centrica – and by doing so – helping to reposition the company for growth. Having the flexibility to give customers what they want, at a price they want and when they need it, is the key to becoming more competitive and is vital to our survival and future success.”