Workers say they have been left feeling angry and betrayed by senior leadership at British Gas
A GROUP of Cardiff based engineers for British Gas held a picket today on the steps of The Senedd. We talked with some of the people involved about their current situation and what chance there is for the dispute to be settled.
Adie Baker, Regional Organiser for GMB (British Gas Union):
What’s the goal of you being here today?
“We’re here supporting British workers who are striking against the company’s use of fire and rehire strategy.
“The workers that you see here today have over 100 years 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.
“We did everything we could to reach a proper and decent outcome, but the company ran out of patience and left what they consider their final offer. We presented plenty of information about why their offer was flawed. It wasn’t safe and we asked them to reconsider.”
How do you feel about the situation going forward?
“Nine to one in favour of industrial action says that they’ve got it wrong. That should send a loud and clear message. The people here today have been out delivering food parcels for the Trussell Trust, going to customers houses throughout the pandemic and while they were doing that Chris O’Shea (CEO) and his senior leadership team were plotting how they could change the contract.
“This didn’t happen overnight; this has been very carefully orchestrated. They have engineered this dispute.
“This has been raised by Mark Drakeford, Nicola Sturgeon and 140 MPs across the house, even Boris Johnson has slammed the use of Fire and Rehire.
“We were invited a couple of weeks ago to go to ACAS alongside the company, we really hope we can get a proper settlement out of this so our members can go back to work.
“However, the company were asked again to remove the threat of fire and rehire and they refused. They have continued to remove the threat to sack their employees.”
How hopeful are you of British Gas reversing course on this issue?
“They’re under so much pressure. We know that they have lost the argument in parliament, they’ve lost the argument with their own workforce and they’ve lost the argument with the public.
“We believe there’s a backlog of over 150,000 jobs needed for customers that are paying for a service and not getting it because the company have forced their employees to go on strike. British Gas are letting their customers down.”
What would you say to British Gas customers or even the wider public?
“Don’t blame the workers. I’m happy we’ve had a massive amount of support from the public, fire and rehire should be illegal. It’s already illegal in other European countries, it should be here. No employer should have the right to simply change a contract whenever they feel like it.”
How can people get involved to support the cause?
“Share our message, write to British Gas or follow the campaign on social media. Support the workers on strike and put pressure on Chris O’Shea and the rest of the business.
“This has been the biggest dispute our union has ever had. This is not just a dispute for British Gas and this has to be resolved. We cannot allow COVID to be the smokescreen to allow employers to drive down conditions of employment.”
Liam O’Flaherty, British Gas Engineer (18 years at the company)
How do you feel you have been treated by British Gas?
“It’s abhorrent, the way we’re being treated. I am having a job I love doing taken away from me. I’m not able to do the job that I want to do safely or efficiently. I feel like I’ve got a gun held to my head to accept terms that are far worse through no fault of my own. This is a company that has made over £900m in profit and used furlough to their full advantage during the pandemic even when there was no loss of income for British Gas.
Have you completely lost trust in the leadership?
“Completely. They’ve lost the dressing room. I don’t feel like a person I feel like a payroll number.”
How do you feel about the support you’ve had behind you?
“It’s been absolutely fantastic. It’s not quite yet reached mainstream media, but I think it’s important because we’re not just fighting for British Gas employees now, we’re fighting for every single employee across the country. If fire and rehire isn’t stopped, there’s nothing stopping big corporations doing exactly the same thing and slashing terms and conditions to their own advantage.”
What would you say to your customers?
“I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart to all my customers, I want to be out there fixing their boilers and keep them safe and warm. I’ve gone into COVID positive properties throughout this pandemic. Their safety and wellbeing is my priority. When I go into a building, they aren’t British Gas customers they are my customers.
“But still, it’s so important for us to get the message out about what is actually happening.”
Kelly Duguay, British Gas Engineer, 23 years at the company
How have these tactics by British Gas affected you?
“We’re very proud to have this job, the loyalty you get from engineers you don’t get the same in any other trade. I don’t know any engineer that hasn’t given 10 years to the company. But we’ve taken sacrifice after sacrifice over the years. Two years ago, we took the biggest hit to our pension and that was only the latest in a long line of hits we’ve taken on it. We did this on the promise that British Gas would invest in 450 new apprentices. I believe they only invested in 46 and with these changes we will be expected to take on the work of 400 engineers for no extra pay.”
How do you like you have been treated by senior management?
“We’re the best in the business and they are treating us like we don’t matter. It’s disgusting.”
How has the COVID pandemic affected your current situation?
“From the beginning of COVID we were having company meetings with senior management and they were telling us how proud they were of us, how we were key workers keeping the country going and we should be proud. Our managing director cried in a meeting and said they wouldn’t ask this of their own family. All the while, they are plotting to take our jobs away from us and make us sign up to something disgusting.”
Do you feel like there is a united front among engineers?
“You only have to look on social media to see the support out there. We’re all in this together and this has created, in a weird way, a massive amount of morale from engineers across the company. The amount of solidarity shown is absolutely amazing and makes us proud to be part of it.”
