Eighth day of industrial action over pay and conditions held after negotiations between the GMB union and British Gas stalled
BRITISH Gas workers braved the cold to strike in front of the Roath Park clocktower in response to controversial “fire and rehire” tactics employed by the company.
Members of the GMB union for British Gas were on their eighth day of industrial action yesterday after 89% of members voted to oppose the use of “fire and rehire” demands made by the company in December. A larger picket was held in Callaghan Square on January 22.
British Gas engineer Kelly Duguay, a participant in the strike, believes that the demands would mean that engineers would be “forced to work longer hours for no more pay” and would have to “cut their time with the customer”.
“It equates to 156 more hours of work, forcing us away from our family for nothing extra. All of us stand to lose our work-life balance through this contract,” she said.
Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, said the business “needs to change to survive.”
“We are doing what we need to do in order to protect 20,000 jobs.”
What is fire and rehire?
Fire and rehire tactics are used when there is a failure to reach an agreement in a new contract between an employer and its employees. Under current law, businesses have the power to fire the employee and then ask them to reapply under a new contract, essentially forcing them to agree to the rules of a new contract or lose their job.
Adie Baker, regional organiser for GMB said: “It is immoral for employers to play fast and loose with the security of employees who have given decades of their lives to an employer.”
“Our workers have hundreds of years of loyal service to the business and they will not accept new terms and conditions that are far worse than their current terms and conditions. On the March 31st they will be sacked. They will be offered new employment under terms that they have already rejected.”
The use of such tactics appears to be on the rise, as a TUC poll issued yesterday found that “nearly 1 in 10 workers have been asked to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms or face the sack”.
Fire and rehire tactics were debated in the House of Commons last night, as opposition MPs called on the government to improve workers’ rights and “weak” unfair dismissal laws.
What’s been the reaction?
Kelly Duguay says that the strikers have had a brilliant reaction from people.
“We’ve had really good support online and when we’ve mentioned it to customers in-house they’ve seemed to be on our side. We’re the part of the company that they love,” she said.
“Being an engineer can be quite an isolating job so seeing the amount of solidarity and support makes you feel part of something great. 84% of engineers have rejected the contract.
“None of us want to be on strike, we’re desperate to get back to work but we feel backed into a corner here and that we have no choice but to try and get them to talk.”
The strikes have seen an upsurge in support from political figures such as First Minister Mark Drakeford and Labour leader Kier Starmer as well as TV stars Mark Wright and Gemma Collins.
There have also been petitions created online to oppose the use of fire and rehire tactics, with one reaching over 85,000 signatures. GMB has created their own official petition, that can be viewed here.
What happens next?
Currently there seems to be no end in sight for this dispute.
GMB say that Centrica have “walked away from the negotiating table” and are demanding that all employees agree to the new contracts by March under the threat of being fired and rehired under lesser terms and conditions.
Centrica, however, says that they have offered a fair deal that has been negotiated over 300 hours – where base pay and pensions are protected. They also claim that 83% of employees, which includes office workers, have agreed to the new terms.
The GMB are planning to hold a larger, official, picket outside The Senedd on Friday and the current round of strikes are due to end on February 1.
