GMB members at British Gas down tools on January 20, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31 and February 1 as cities across the UK lit up with ‘Stop the British Gas Fire’ messages of support.
Thousands of GMB members at British Gas begin a fresh seven-day strike on January 20 over the company’s strategy to fire them all and rehire them on worse terms and conditions.
Strike action taking place January 22, 25, 29, 30, 31 and February 1 in anger as profitable British Gas provokes further disruption for its customers.
Meanwhile overnight, huge messages of support for the striking workers were projected on iconic buildings across London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
British Gas engineers and staff voted overwhelmingly by 89% to strike after boss of parent company Centrica Chris O’Shea threatened to fire them all if they didn’t “accept” cuts to pay and terms and conditions.
The strikes provoked by the company have caused massive disruption already – with an estimated 100,000 homes waiting for service across the country.
British Gas parent company Centrica <https://www.centrica.com/media/4204/annual-report-and-accounts-2019.pdf> reported an operating profit (before exceptional items and tax) of £901 million in 2019.
Survation poll shows British Gas customers think cuts should come from top brass salaries and dividends rather than workers.
Almost three quarters of British Gas customers support the strike against fire and rehire of all engineers, new polling shows.
Customers were also asked where the priority should be if savings had to be made – 76% said that the first port of call should be reducing senior managers’ <https://www.centrica.com/media-centre/news/2020/interim-results-for-the-period-ended-30-june-2020/> salaries or shareholder dividends ahead of changing employees terms and conditions.
