British Gas workers start five- day walkout
Staff take action after union claims of ‘ fire and re- hire’ moves by company
BRITISH Gas workers downed tools today in one of the biggest strikes in the utilities industry for 40 years. Around 1000 workers across Scotland will take part in the walkout organised by GMB Union.
The strike will begin today and will go on for five days until Monday, January 11.
A picket line will be in place at the utility company’s Uddingston call centre.
Staff across service and repair, electrical services, smart metering, installations and customer services will be impacted.
British Gas has a contingency plan in place to ensure customers are still able to access services if they need to.
The union has claimed the industrial action is in response to the new “fire and re- hire” practices that parent company Centrica Plc has laid out, where it alleges workers have been forced to accept reduced terms and conditions or risk being sacked.
The GMB’s Hazel Nolan has slammed the firm’s CEO Chris O’Shea, claiming the company has created the need for industrial action.
She said: “Chris O’Shea will take home a pre- bonus wage of £ 775,000, and Centrica has recorded a £ 901 million operating profit for 2019.”
“While GMB members in British Gas acted as emergency workers during the Covid- 19 pandemic, Chris O’Shea and British Gas were busy plotting how to slash workers’ terms and conditions.
“In the grip of a global pandemic, Chris O’Shea’s anti- worker, ‘ fire and rehire’ agenda would set a dangerous precedent for major UK employers, opening the floodgates for widespread attacks on workers’ jobs, pay and conditions.
“This is not how a country builds back better.
“GMB members are being told they’ll be sacked and then forced to accept new terms and conditions – across the board, cuts in wages pensions and leave.
“Take it or leave it. Centrica is turning a once great British industrial institution into a cowboy contractor. We have no choice but to fight- back.”
However, a spokeswoman for Centrica hit back at these claims.
She said: “‘ We’ve done everything we can with the GMB to avoid industrial action. Whilst we’ve made great progress with our other unions, sadly the GMB leadership seems intent on causing disruption to customers during the coldest weekend of the year, amid a global health crisis and in the middle of a national lockdown.
“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.
“Over 83% of our workforce have already accepted our new terms, in which base pay and pensions are protected, including a significant majority of GMB members.
“This shows most of our people understand that our business needs to change because customer needs are changing.
“GMB’s mandate for strike action is weak; they are fighting against modernisation and changes which will help to protect well- paid jobs in the long term and are doing so at a time that our country needs everyone to pull together.”