Tag: GMB

More Fringe Rubbish: ‘No Time For Waste’ as Refuse Worker Strikes Loom

Repeat of 2022 Festival Disruption ‘Likely’

Rubbish will pile up in Scottish streets, backcourts and gardens should an improved pay offer not be proposed by council body, COSLA, after GMB Scotland secures mandates for strike in waste services across Scotland.

GMB Scotland’s members in waste services in 13 councils have achieved a mandate for strike action in their dispute over pay, including in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Fife, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling.

The union says that a repeat of strike action during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is likely again this year. In 2022, city centre bins overflowed with litter strewn across streets when tourists flocked to the Scottish capital.

The offer proposed by COSLA falls short of that offered by the Conservative UK Government to local authority workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of workers in Scotland would have received less in cash over 12 months and a smaller rise over 18 months than their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

The union says this year’s pay talks have been a repeat of previous years where they have been needlessly protracted due to a lack of action from COSLA to provide a pay offer including blocking Scottish Government intervention in talks.

Trade unions submitted their pay claims in January with an offer only provided in May which was promptly rejected. Since then, no meaningful talks have taken place between Council Leaders and trade unions.

GMB Scotland is calling on COSLA to get round the table with unions to outline their best offer which goes beyond the rest of the UK and if unable, for Council Leaders to call for the Scottish Government’s intervention.

The union has warned that if an improved offer is not forthcoming, dates for strike action will be served.

 GMB Scotland Senior Organiser for Public Services, Keir Greenaway said: “Year after year, these talks have been needlessly drawn out. That leaves our members – typically the lowest paid working on the frontline of our services – without the pay rise they need. Inflation may be stabilising, but can anyone say they feel the difference?

“Council Leaders refuse to have meaningful talks – all while blocking the Scottish Government’s intervention to deliver a pay offer that matches our members’ value. They are counting down the clock while our members go without.

“We hear time and time again that Scotland does public services better, but that’s not the case when the Conservatives down south have already beaten COSLA’s offer. If COSLA can’t do better, it’s time for them to bring the Scottish Government to the table to fund an improved offer.

 “If not, then it’s likely that the same disruption during 2022’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival will happen again this year. Hundreds of millions are poured into the city during the Fringe, but political leaders claim they can’t find enough money to value frontline service workers.

 “Council Leaders have wasted months and they’ve wasted opportunities. Our members have no time for waste which is why rubbish will pile up in councils across Scotland if a suitable offer isn’t received. We have no interest in political games when so many are struggling.”

Unite, Unison and GMB all balloted members in Waste and Cleansing across Scotland—this ballot closed yesterday on 1 July.

In Edinburgh, UNITE have also balloted workers in Fleet Services — this ballot closes tomorrow – 3 July.

A Cosla spokeswoman told the BBC: “Cosla has made a strong offer at the limits of affordability for councils. In the context of lowering inflation and a “flat cash” budget settlement from Scottish government, it remains important to reward our valued workforce appropriately.

“We urge our unions to reconsider their decision to reject the offer.

“We are disappointed that industrial action is being contemplated by our unions and concerned that it appears to be targeted at waste services, once again raising potential public health risks.”

She said the Scottish government respected the union’s role in seeking the best pay settlement and it remained committed to doing the best by its workforce.

GMB reveals almost 1,000 public football pitches lost by cash-strapped councils

On the eve of the European Championships, GMB can reveal almost 1,000 public football pitches have been lost in the UK since 2010.

As England and Scotland get ready to kick off their campaigns in Germany, new figures show there are 846 fewer local authority owned or operated football pitches today [based on the latest figures available] than there were in 2009/10.

Councils said that a further 80 pitches had also been closed – meaning at least 926 pitches have gone.

The worst hit part of the UK was Scotland, which lost a massive 271 pitches during that period.

All the other worst hit areas were all in Northern England and Wales.

The figures come from a Freedom of Information request made by GMB to local authorities in the UK and we’re revealed at GMB’s annual conference, which concludes in Bournemouth today [Thursday].

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “The England and Scotland men’s teams are about to begin their European Championship campaigns, with the hopes of the two nations resting on their shoulders.

“Yet before a ball has even been kicked, the next generation of footballers have already lost.

“Losing almost 1,000 council football pitches could crush grass roots football in the UK and is yet another deeply depressing legacy of the Conservative’s austerity mission.”

Unions unite to demand better following council budget ‘shambles’

Following the shambles of this year’s City of Edinburgh Council budget in which full council voted for a budget including privatisation and compulsory redundancies, Edinburgh’s trade unions have joined together to demand better for the workforce and the community.

GMB, Unison, and Unite represent the majority of workers employed across the council including front line services such as waste, care, parks and roads, and non-teaching staff in schools.

The joint trade unions welcome the council leader’s assurances he has no intention of implementing the budget in full, but this is not enough and are further calling on City of Edinburgh Council  to give their workforce security by re-setting a budget which takes compulsory redundancies and privatisation off the cards completely.

The joint trade unions are asking the public to stand by the council workforce, by signing the public petition and writing to their local councillors: https://edcouncilpledge.carrd.co/

GMB Organiser Kirsten Muat Said: “Scotland’s council’s have been underfunded for decades, but it is unacceptable of the council to ask front line workers to bear the brunt of the lack of political leadership on this issue.

“The workforce need to be given job security, the only way this can happen is by political leaders putting their words into action and putting a complete to stop to any privatisation or compulsory redundancies.

“Privatization and redundancies will never be in the public interest, it would be wrong and short sighted for City of Edinburgh Council to pursue this.”

UNISON Branch Secretary Tom Connolly said: “We want all Edinburgh Councillors to not only adopt the trade union pledge, but we also want them to publicly endorse their commitment and outline how they will ensure our pledges are delivered.

“The public have a massive role to play here too. You can help save our services by using our campaign tools to write to your elected officials and put pressure on them to deliver.

“The Edinburgh Council unions have continually warned over many years about the devastating impact of cuts to council budgets and the threat to democratic accountability.

But under the Tory Government at Westminster and the SNP/Green Government in Scotland, local government is under pressure as never before. For years now, council workers have continuously been asked to do more with less and deliver more for less. With the current council budget, that trend will continue, and things will continue to get worse.”

Unite branch secretary Brian Robertson said: “The council needs to provide security to its workers as insecurity for the workers not only causes stress to them and their families but also puts stress on the services they deliver. 

“Best Value reviews must examine in-house service delivery as a serious option.  Improving Services, Creating Jobs is the Best Value our council can give to our workers, citizens, families and communities. Doing otherwise is a dis-service to our city.”

Campaign Resources:

Joint Edinburgh Unions Shared Webpage: https://edcouncilpledge.carrd.co/

Sign the petition – Edinburgh City Council: Pledge for Public Services | Megaphone UK

Send a letter to  your local Councillor and demand that they sign the union pledge  –  https://action.unison.org.uk/page/125663/action/1  

Council strikes back on?

UNISON, and sister trade unions Unite and GMB, are threatening pull out local government school staff and refuse workers on strike again.

Strike action was suspended after UNISON members voted for an offer which was made to them by COSLA on 2nd September 2022.

Trade union strikes remain suspended but mandates remain live meaning UNISON can legally call their local government members back out on strike, again.

COSLA now claim that the elements of the original deal – an extra days leave and the payment of SSSC registration fees for those working in social work, social care and early years – were only for one year not in perpetuity.

UNISON have now written to COSLA to say: “It is frankly outrageous that the draft pay circular sent to us on 7th October sought to time limit elements of the offer that had no time limitation on them in the original offer letter or in the discussions we had prior to it.

“That this remains unresolved should be a source of deep embarrassment. As has previously been advised our strike mandates remain live and we are all under increasing pressure from members, who are rapidly losing faith in their employer, to lift the strike suspensions if a resolution is not achieved quickly.”

Council staff are still waiting for their increased pay uplifts to be included in their pay packets.

Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland head of local government said: “This is appalling behaviour – either the employer did not even understand the offer they themselves were making – or they did and are now trying to renegue on it before its even been implemented. Either way it will be our members that suffer if they are allowed to get away with it.

“We have made clear to the employer and the Scottish Government that our strike mandates remain live and all three trade unions are under increasing pressure from members, who are rapidly losing faith in their employer, to lift the strike suspensions if a resolution and call members out if a resolution is not achieved quickly.

“Our members will rightly be questioning the value of COSLA if they cannot be trusted to draft an offer that they understand or uphold one that they do understand.

“It should be a source of deep embarrassment to COSLA that more than six months since the pay implementation date and in the middle of the worst cost of living crises our country has seen, waiting on their pay rise”

Bins Strike: Politicians play the Blame Game while punters wade through mounting rubbish

TALKS to resolve the local government workers strike ended without an agreement being reached yesterday.

Unions had sought clarity over a 5% offer tabled at a meeting with local government organisation Cosla but the employers were unable to give sufficient reassurances to enable unions to call off planned strikes across the country.

This means the ongoing strike in Edinburgh will continue, with other council areas also being hit by industrial action for the first time today.

Edinburgh North and Leith SNP MP Deirdre Brock said the capital’s Labour-run council had failed to put forward a decent pay offer.

Edinburgh council’s Labour leader Cammy Day was criticised last week for offering just 3.5% to council workers while other council leaders were pushing for a 5% pay rise for their workers.

Ms Brock said: “The SNP in government put an extra £140m on the table, on top of the £100m extra given to councils earlier in the year, yet Labour refused to offer that money to refuse workers for over a week, leaving our capital streets an eyesore.

“Residents and tourists alike need to see a plan from Labour to clean up the capital starting today. All we’ve seen so far is ineptitude.”

Her Edinburgh SNP colleague Angus Robertson MSP weighed in:

The Labour administration in Edinburgh is propped up by the Scottish Conservatives and the Lib Dems, but the Tory Local Government spokesperson Miles Briggs MSP had a go at both the Labour-led council and the SNP Holyrood government:

Lamenting the city council’s ‘astounding’ lack of contingency planning – trade unions have made their plans very clear in the run-up to the strike – Lothians list MSP Miles Briggs said: “More could have been done to prepare the city, such as working with private companies or providing additional bins.

“The SNP government must get around the table and fix this before it’s too late. They cannot stand by and watch while a situation that they created by giving councils a poor funding settlement spirals out of control.”

Scotish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole Hamilton lays the blame squarely on the Scottish Government:

“Think of the white elephants the SNP has splurged cash on: independence, the ferries debacle, the embassies so they can play ‘dress-up diplomat’. All of this could have gone to councils to allow them to settle these very reasonable pay expectations.”

Talking of white elephants, our cash-strapped city council chose yesterday to announce £1 BILLION plans for a new North-South tram line … but that’s another story!

Responding to the Edinburgh refuse workers’ industrial action, Labour Lothian list MSP Foysul Choudhury said: “SNP representatives should get off their high horse about the ongoing industrial action when they should have been canvassing their own party in the Scottish Government to agree extra cash with COSLA for councils to pay workers a fair wage, rather than expecting Edinburgh City Council to cut services elsewhere.

“It is up to the Scottish Government and COSLA to agree further funding, and then up to COSLA and the unions to agree the terms of any new pay deal, not Edinburgh City Council. As a former City Councillor, Deidre Brock knows this and yet has pretended otherwise in the media.

“Nobody wants to see the streets of Edinburgh in their current state, but the ongoing industrial action shows what a crucial job refuse and recycling workers do and demonstrates why we should be paying them fairly for their work.

“At the same time it is ridiculous for SNP representatives to lay the strike at the hands of a Labour-led council when it is their party which has repeatedly slashed local government budgets in real terms, forcing councils to cut their services to the bone.

“If the SNP really wanted to avoid these strikes rather than play politics, they should have come to an agreement with COSLA sooner, or better still, avoided imposing successive years of painful austerity for local authorities across Scotland.”

UNITE City of Edinburgh Branch pointed out: “Misinformation on #edinburghbinstrikes today is rife. Strike is a national dispute—one council can’t stop it. 14 more councils tomorrow.

“Local government funding has been slashed for a decade. Idea that 5% definitely would have stopped this is a fantasy. An insulting one at that.”

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer is backing the striking unions. In a tweet yesterday, Ms Foyer said: “Solidarity to all of you. Keep fighting!

“All Scotland’s local government workers deserve a decent pay rise for the vital work you do. Let’s show our support on the picket lines across Scotland tomorrow.”

PLANNED INDUSTRIAL ACTION:

Unison

School and early years workers will strike on 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September, joining UNISON waste and recycling staff who will have already started their strike action on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

Unite

Strikes will be held between the 18th August – 30th in Edinburgh with a second wave expected in a further 14 local authorities this week.

Aberdeen City, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

Unite Campaign Page

Unison

In the first wave of action cleansing workers will strike in Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils for the first wave of strike action to take place on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

Unison Campaign Page

GMB

Cleansing workers will strike in Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils for the first wave of strike action to take place on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

City of Edinburgh Council: Disruption to Waste Services

We appreciate the impact and inconvenience this will cause you and appreciate your understanding. Please help us to keep the city as clean and safe as possible during the strike by following this guidance:

  • Regularly check our website and Twitter account for updates on services suspended and when collections will restart in your area.  Be aware normal collections may take a while to get back to schedule after the strike ends.
  • Don’t put any bins, boxes or bags out for collection until the situation changes.
  • Stock up on strong black bags, and be prepared to fill, seal and store these with extra waste. 
  • When separating your recycling, please try to flatten all cardboard and crush drinks cans and bottles.  You can bag these up, separated, to empty into the recycling bin when you can.
  • Store waste sensibly and safely. If possible, use and share empty garage space with your neighbours or store bags in your garden or driveway.
  • Don’t store waste in stairwells or landings, where it could become a fire hazard.
  • Be careful not to block bin chutes or overfill them.
  • Keep all food waste separate and in an enclosed container, to help prevent smells attracting wildlife.
  • Talk to your neighbours and share responsibility for keeping spillages to a minimum.  Help neighbours who may need support managing their waste. Explain the situation to those who may not have heard.
  • Please do not leave bags or any bulky items next to full bins. These will not get cleared away and could become a hazard.
  • Join with neighbours to do local litter picking clean ups, especially around on-street bins and litter bins on your street. 
  • If a bin is full to overflowing, don’t use it, particularly for dog fouling.  Please either use a bin that’s not full or take it home and double bag it to reduce smells.

Report a waste emergency

If you need to report an emergency issue where waste is causing injury or hazard call us and listen to select an option carefully.  Phone 0131 608 1100, from Monday -Thursday 1000-1600 and Friday 1000-1500.  After these hours, phone 0131 200 2000.

You can also email waste@edinburgh.gov.uk with the specific location and details of the issue.

Stand Up for The Bin Workers!

Wednesday August 24, 9pm at The Stand Comedy Club

Gala comedy benefit to support striking refuse workers, starring Mark Thomas, Jason Byrne, Jo Caulfield, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Mark Nelson, Shazia Mirza, Susie McCabe, Rachel Fairburn, Vladimir McTavish and Danny Bhoy

Edinburgh refuse workers, like all of us, are being hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis. They are on strike for a living wage. The money raised from the benefit, organised by The Stand Comedy Club & English comedian Mark Thomas, ‘One of the few stand-ups still to carry the political standard of alternative comedy’ (Chortle), will go straight to their official strike fund.

Mark Thomas (below) says: “These are the workers who got us through Covid and now they are being told to take a real cut in their wages. It’s unacceptable and they deserve our support in fighting back.”

GMB Support Worker Kirsten Muat says: “Too many local government workers across Scotland are already suffering in work poverty. The bin men in Edinburgh are striking to try and put an end to that.

“GMB are incredibly grateful to everyone supporting the striking workers, including all the comedians and members of the public coming along to the benefit gig.”

The support will go along to ensuring workers in Edinburgh waste and their families can survive this cost of living crisis and sustain action.

Strike action begins in Edinburgh

Unite members in Waste and Cleansing in Edinburgh will begin industrial action today over the ‘insulting’ pay offer for local government workers.

Last Friday, COSLA increased the offer from 2% to 3.5%. All three unions of the Scottish Joint Council -Unite, Unison and GMB – immediately rejected the offer.

The NHS have been offered—and look set to reject—5%, so once again local government is treated as the poor relation of the public sector. Local government workers in England have been offered a rise of £1,925.

Edinburgh is the first council to take action, with others following on the 24th.

Pickets and support

The strike takes place from 5am today to 5am on Tuesday 30 August with daily pickets at seven waste depots across the city.

See picket locations below:

Waste and Cleansing workers will strike from 5am on 18 August to 4:59am on 30 August in Edinburgh Council.

DAILY PICKETS at:

  • Seafield Depot on Fillyside Road from 5:30 to 8:30am and 7pm to 8pm.
  • Bankhead Depot on Bankhead Avenue from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Cowan’s Close Depot at 7 Cowan’s Close from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Craigmillar Depot on Old Dalkeith Road from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Russell Road Depot at 38 Russell Road from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Burgess Road Depot at 30 Burgess Road in South Queensferry from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Murrayburn Depot at 33 Murrayburn Road from 6:30 to 8:30am.

You can support the strike by donating to the strike fund.

TODAY: Demo at the City Chambers and RMT rally

UNITE will be demonstrating at the City Chambers on Thursday 18 August at 9am as part of the industrial action.

Following this, the trade union will join the RMT rally on Waverley Bridge at 10am to foster solidarity among workers and hear from Mick Lynch and Mark Thomas.

THE CITY COUNCIL HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING ADVICE:

What to do with your waste and recycling

Communal services

Collections are suspended for all communal waste and recycling bins. Please do not add to full bins. Check nearby bins instead, and when these are all full, store your waste at home, or in your back green or garden if possible. Do not leave bags next to bins unless this is unavoidable, as it can become a hazard.

Keep separating your waste and rinse pots, tubs and trays, and rinse and squash your plastic bottles and aluminium cans, so that these don’t smell while you store them. Flatten cardboard too.

Keep food waste in a sealed container, as cool as possible.

Glass bank services will continue as these are managed by an external contactor.

Kerbside services

Non recyclable waste collections (grey bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your grey bin out. Please keep your waste safe, secure and away from pavements and roads. Consider using a garage, garden or driveway and ensure strong bin bags are properly secured.

Mixed recycling collections (green bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your green bin out. Please keep your recycling clean and flattened, and stored safely. 

Food waste collections

Suspended. Please do not put your food bin out. Please ensure your kerbside food waste bin is closed and secured to prevent animal access.

Glass collections (blue box)

Suspended. Please do not put your blue box out. Please rinse bottles and jars and store these at home. Please do not use on street or local bring site recycling points to dispose of your glass. We do not have the staff resources to empty these or clean up fly-tipped material.

Garden waste collections (brown bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your brown bin out.  We understand the disappointment this will cause and at the moment, we cannot advise when the service will be running normally again.

We are working on how best to replace the collections affected, and will provide further information on this later.

Report a missed bin

Since normal scheduled collections are suspended, we cannot take reports of missed bins. Please do not present your bin for collection until advised to do so.

Collections of bulky waste items

Suspended. Existing bookings will be honoured where staffing allows. If you have booked a special uplift and we can’t collect it, we will let you know.

Household waste recycling centres

Closed. It will not be possible to book an appointment, and all existing bookings will be contacted by email to cancel.

Request and replacing bins and boxes

Repair and replacement of bins and boxes are suspended. Uplifts of any unwanted waste containers is also suspended.

Litter/ dogs bins and street cleansing

Please also note there will be no street cleansing activities including street sweeping and litter bin emptying. Please either use a bin that’s not full or take it home and double bag it to reduce smells.

Waste reporting and enquires

We have removed all online reporting for waste and cleansing as we are unable to carry out these services during the industrial action. 

If you need to report an emergency issue where waste is causing injury or hazard, please phone and listen to the new options carefully. Phone 0131 608 1100, from Monday -Thursday 1000-1600 and Friday 1000-1500.  After these hours, phone 0131 200 2000.

You can also email waste@edinburgh.gov.uk with the specific location and details of the issue.

Please be mindful that staff working will be very busy and are all doing their best to deal with a lot of issues at this time.

GMB encourages everyone to get booster – but workers need pay boost too

Governments yet again ask key frontline workers for huge national effort, but they are still not paying them properly, says GMB 

GMB Union encourages everyone to get their booster – but says frontline workers need a pay boost too. 

Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: “There has been no respite for our frontline workers throughout the covid pandemic. 

“They’ve put themselves in harm’s way to serve the public – particularly when governments and employers failed to ensure the provision of proper PPE and testing to keep them safe at work.  

“GMB members know the importance of keeping safe and well, that’s why we’re encouraging everyone across the four nations to get their booster. 

“But as governments, yet again, ask our NHS, social care and key frontline workers to undertake another huge national effort, they are still not paying these workers properly. 

“Against the backdrop of covid, there is a cost-of-living crisis, key services face an understaffing crisis and the people delivering them are enduring a wage crisis. 

“That’s not good enough and it’s got to be confronted.  

“Our key workers must be paid properly – it’s the least they deserve for everything they are doing for all of us.” 

GMB warns anger over low pay isn’t going away as cleansing workers demand fresh ballot

Following a workforce meeting in George Square yesterday (Monday 8 November), Glasgow City Council cleansing workers demanded a fresh strike ballot against their employer over low pay. 

It means a second wave of strikes could hit cleansing services in Scotland’s biggest city in the run-up to Christmas. Eight days of strike action conclude this evening at 23.59 hours. 

Calls from the workforce come after talks this weekend between GMB and Glasgow City Council Leader Susan Aitken, which secured commitments from the council to: 

  • review the value of pay for all workers on the lowest grades (Grades 1,2 & 3 – an estimated 10,000 workers currently earning less than £20,000 a year) as part of the process to remove its discriminatory pay and grading system; and 
  • pursue investment for cleansing infrastructure and resources to tackle the city’s waste crisis, alongside a range of new employee development and well-being measures to address management mistreatment of staff. 

However, the council refused workers’ demands for a one-off “Glasgow Payment” for all workers on Grades 1, 2 and 3 as a means of addressing the cost-of-living crisis being faced now by many council workers in Scotland’s biggest city.

GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Keir Greenaway said: “It’s taken a strike to get Glasgow’s leadership in the room and acknowledge the council’s chronic low pay problems, the waste crisis in our communities, and the toxic management culture in the cleansing department. 

“It is important to understand that strikes don’t happen by accident. They are a consequence of workers’ feeling undervalued, disrespected, and ignored for too long, and it’s clear that a few days of talks and the initial outcomes from this aren’t enough to remedy the impact of a decade of cuts. 

“Our members in cleansing, like so many of their colleagues in other services like home care, school support, parks and gardens, and Glasgow Life, are the backbone of the city’s workforce but they are struggling on wages that simply do not make ends meet. 

“It’s why our members have demanded a fresh ballot, which could mean a second wave of strikes in the run up to Christmas. They want more to be done to properly value key workers and to tackle the significant service and workforce challenges facing their city. 

“That’s something the council, COSLA and ultimately the Scottish Government should reflect on today because it’s very clear this anger isn’t going away until these problems are confronted.”

British Gas doesn’t give a toss for customers or staff, says GMB

200 workers sacked in national ‘Fire and Rehire’ dispute

British Gas doesn’t give a toss for either customers or staff – and that is shown by the mass sackings of engineers who are badly needed by customers to clear huge backlog, says the GMB trade union.

British Gas went ahead with yesterday’s mass sacking of striking gas engineers who refused to submit to corporate bullying to accept a 15% cut in pay rates and other imposed changes in terms and conditions.

This coincides with British Gas suspending the sale of boiler insurance cover amid scenes of ‘van graveyards’ from the vans returned by the sacked gas engineers.

This mass sackings  were enacted as gas engineers took part on the 43rd day of strike action in the long-running, deadlocked and increasingly bitter dispute.

British Gas announced in July last year that staff in the Field staff bargaining group who refused to accept imposed 15% cuts in pay rates and other changes would be sacked.

GMB says the company bullied the rest of the staff in the Field staff bargaining group to sign terms they had overwhelmingly rejected and still don’t accept.

These GMB members at British Gas have already taken 42 days of strike action against the imposition of the 15% cuts in pay rates and other changes via “fire and rehire” notices.

In addition, a national official “lockout” dispute between British Gas and GMB will become effective from 14 April and will include further strike action and action short of a strike.

The strikes have led to a backlog of millions of customers waiting for planned service visits and hundreds of thousands having to wait for emergency repairs.

British Gas has suspended sale of the standard boiler service insurance.

Justin Bowden, GMB Regional Secretary said: “That British Gas doesn’t give a toss for either customers or staff is shown by the mass sackings of engineers it needs so badly for customer services that it has suspended the sale of boiler insurance cover.

“The ‘graveyards of vans’ returned by the sacked gas engineers shows this.

“These sacked gas engineers are badly needed by customers to clear the huge backlog of missed planned annual service visits and repairs.

“There is sadly nothing in law to stop corporate bullying by companies of their own staff to sign terms they don’t accept and sacking those who don’t submit to this bullying.

“But GMB members won’t accept the outcome of the bullying. This is why we are staging the 43rd day of strike action today. 

“I have news for Mr O’Shea. This is not the end of the dispute. As well as being in dispute with his own staff he is now in dispute with the national union GMB.

“This is why this dispute will continue and become an official national lockout dispute. There will be more strikes and action short of strikes.

“The British Gas leadership disaster reaches its low point today (April 14) with mass sackings of British Gas Engineers – in the only consistently profitable part of the company – by a management team too stupid to see the true value of a uniquely skilled and loyal workforce.

“With hundreds of thousands waiting in the backlog for service, customers have been treated as collateral and so, it seems, too will staff – as Mr O’Shea prepares to go down in history as the first major CEO to mass sack his highly skilled and qualified engineers.

“They are his most valuable asset. He will be universally condemned by politicians and public alike for doing so.

“The arrogant gamble has been lost. Any fool can start a war and, it seems, ruin a good business.

“History will not be kind to Mr O’Shea or the Centrica Board who failed to rein in him and his out-of-control leadership team.” 

A statement posted on the British Gas website yesterday said: “Unfortunately, due to strike action by some engineers on Wednesday the 14th of April, we’re only able to offer a very limited emergency service.

“During this time we’ll be prioritising our most vulnerable customers, but we’ll do our best to help everyone as quickly as we can. Thanks for understanding – we’re so sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.”

A Centrica spokesperson said: “There is a job for everyone at the end of this process. We are changing the way we work to give our customers the service they want and protect the future of our company and 20,000 UK jobs. Today marks the end of the period for our employees to sign new contracts.

“These are highly competitive, and our changes are reasonable. Around 98% of the entire company has accepted and we hope the remaining, also sign and choose to stay. We have not cut base pay or changed our generous final salary pensions. Our gas service engineers remain some of the best paid in the sector, earning £40,000 a year minimum.

“While change is difficult, reversing our decline which has seen us lose over three million customers, cut over 15,000 jobs and seen profits halved over the last 10 years is necessary. The changes will also unlock our ability to grow jobs and hire 1000 green apprentices over the next two years.’’