Instead of helping workers through crisis, Cadent risk outages for tens of thousands of people
Thousands of field force workers at gas giant Cadent have voted for strike action.
Nearly 2,000 GMB members will now walk out as early as 22 April.
Industrial action could potentially case outages at homes and businesses throughout five regions in England; North West, East and West Midlands, East Anglia and North London.
The ballot comes after workers resoundingly rejected a below inflation pay increase of 2 per cent for 2021 and 4 per cent from July 22.
With inflation running at 8.2 per cent, the deal amounts to a massive real terms pay cut.
Cadent made an operating profit of £901 million in 2021, while CEO Steve Fraser was paid £1.4 million in 2020/21.
GMB will now meet with members to confirm strike dates.
Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said:
“Thousands of gas workers have been backed into a corner by Cadent’s penny-pinching.
"Workers face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. Cadent can afford to help their workers through this by paying them more – they made £900 million last year.
“Instead, they’ve tried to force a real terms pay cut on them and now they face inconveniencing tens of thousands of people.
“This strike can still be averted - Cadent just needs to treat workers right and help them through this crisis.”
