Fire and rehire plan main obstacle to a deal – British Gas must remove it if we are to progress
British Gas engineers will walk out for their 27th day of strike action today after they overwhelmingly rejected a revised offer from the company at ACAS.
Thousands took part in the ballot with more than three quarters of gas and electrical engineers voting against the deal after the company declined to take its fire and rehire plan off the table.
British Gas engineers will down tools for four days from today until March 8 over the company’s plan to sack them and rehire them on worse terms and conditions.
These are strike days 27 to 30 of the ongoing dispute.
GMB says fire and rehire remains the main obstacle to members accepting a deal.
Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary, said:
“Strike days 27 to 30 will go ahead at British Gas after gas and electrical engineers overwhelmingly rejected a revised offer at ACAS because the company didn’t take fire and rehire off the table.
“British Gas’ fire and rehire plan is the main obstacle to members accepting a deal – they need to remove it now if we are to progress.
“GMB’s executive has determined action could continue to mid-April in this deadlocked dispute.
“After 26 days of strikes, more than 250,000 homes are in a backlog for repairs and 350,000 planned annual service visits have been axed. “The company is misleading the media that it is catching up after 24 hours.”
