More than 1,000 British Gas workers across Scotland will launch twelve more days of strike action from tomorrow (Friday 12 March), in response to Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea’s refusal to drop his controversial ‘fire and rehire’ policy.
Engineers will walk out from 00.01 hours on Friday 12 March until 21.59 hours on Monday 15 March, again on Friday 19 March to Monday 22 March, and finally on Friday 26 March to Monday 29 March, taking the total number of strike days in the dispute to forty-two.
The latest wave of strikes was confirmed after workers across the UK voted by a resounding majority of four-to-one against proposals tabled through ACAS over the future of their terms and conditions, with Centrica refusing to lift the ‘fire and rehire’ imposition.
After thirty days of previous strikes, more than 250,000 homes across the UK are in a backlog for repairs and 350,000 planned annual service visits have been axed.
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Hazel Nolan said: “This dispute can end now if Chris O’Shea finally does the right thing by dropping his controversial ‘fire and rehire’ policy.
“It’s shameful that in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, Centrica are using this public health crisis to threatened workers with the sack if they don’t accept imposed changes to their livelihoods.
“This is the kind of behaviour you would expect from a cowboy contractor and not the CEO of a great British institution. It’s not modern, it’s Dickensian and there should be no place for this in our country.
“The message is loud and clear: Stop the fire and rehire in British Gas, and let’s return to proper negotiations over the future of this business and its workers.”
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