26th Feb 2021 10:20
(Alliance News) - British Gas engineers have launched a fresh wave of strikes in a deadlocked dispute over pay & conditions.
Members of the GMB union walked out on Friday for four days, following weeks of action since the start of the year.
Parent company Centrica PLC announced on Thursday that its underlying earnings had fallen by almost a third as it lost more customers.
The group reported a 31% drop in underlying operating profits to GBP447 million for 2020.
Talks have been held between the two sides at the conciliation service Acas, but the union has accused the company of refusing to withdraw fire-and-rehire plans.
Justin Bowden, GMB national officer, said: "Last summer, when British Gas decided on fire-and-rehire pay cuts for gas engineers, it was already a profitable company.
"So there is no need to hurt workers, customers and shareholders. Refusing to take fire-and-rehire off the table is the main obstacle to a settlement at Acas.
"More than 230,000 homes are in a backlog for repairs and 300,000 planned annual service visits have been axed."
British Gas has denied the union's claim on the backlog of repairs, and says its plans are aimed at avoiding job losses.
A spokeswoman for British Gas said: "We have plans in place to manage industrial action, but we're sorry for any disruption this is causing to our customers.
"We'll continue to prioritise vulnerable customers and emergency situations."
Centrica Chief Executive Chris O'Shea said about the Acas discussions: "These talks have given us the basis, hopefully, for an agreement which is being presented to our staff at the moment.
"I'm really hopeful we can move forward with the GMB in line with other unions, where we already have agreements.
"Hopefully we can move forward and put this behind us to work together to transform Centrica.
"The changes we are making have allowed us to create 1,000 new apprenticeships.
"These jobs are well-paid jobs and I'd like to create more of them, but we can't do that on our old terms and conditions. We need to modernise the company."
Centrica shares were trading 3.5% higher in London on Friday at 53.84 pence each.
By Alan Jones
source: PA
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