Centrica accuses GMB of ‘being intent on causing disruption’ over strike

Thousands of GMB members at British Gas have today (7 January) walked out as part of a five-day strike over changes to workers’ pay and conditions.

In June last year the company said it would be undertaking a major restructure in which 5,000 jobs, the majority of which are managerial roles, would be cut.

As part of the restructure Centrica wants to modernise the terms and conditions of more than 80 different types of employee contracts with more than 7,000 variations in terms by reducing this to four standard contracts across the company.

In July Centrica issued HR1 and S.188 notices, which allow it, in a “last resort”, to terminate workers’ contracts and issue new ones with updated terms and conditions.

Following the postponement of the plans in October, GMB’s British Gas members were balloted in December and 89 per cent voted in favour of industrial action.

This is in contrast to Unite and Unison where a majority of members voted to back the revised contract proposals.

Justin Bowden, GMB national secretary, said: “British Gas boss Chris O’Shea’s attempts to bully workers into accepting cuts to their pay and terms and conditions has provoked this inevitable outcome – massive disruption to customers in the depths of winter and a stain on the reputation of an historic company and brand.

“GMB is calling on the public to ask why British Gas CEO Mr O’Shea is provoking an engineers’ strike with ‘fire and rehire’ pay cuts, in the depths of winter.

“This is against the backdrop of the company reporting operating profits of £901 million in the latest available annual accounts.”

In response, Centrica has accused GMB of being “intent on causing disruption to customers” during the coldest weekend of the year and amid a global health crisis.

A spokesperson added: “We have strong contingency plans in place to ensure we will still be there for customers who really need us, and we’ll prioritise vulnerable households and emergencies.

“Over 83 per cent of our workforce have already accepted our new terms, in which base pay and pensions are protected, including a significant majority of GMB members. This shows most of our people understand that our business needs to change because customer needs are changing.

“GMB’s mandate for strike action is weak; they are fighting against modernisation and changes which will help to protect well paid jobs in the long term and are doing so at a time that our country needs everyone to pull together.”

Oxford Flow

Elsewhere in the sector, former Centrica and BP boss Iain Conn has joined the board of Oxford Flow as non-executive director.

Conn’s departure from the British Gas owner was announced in 2019 after an “exceptionally challenging” first half of the year. In April 2020 it was announced that former chief financial officer Chris O’Shea would be taking over Conn’s role on a permanent basis.

Oxford Flow is a flow control equipment specialist for oil, gas, water and industrial process industries.

Conn has 35 years of industry experience, including 29 with BP (10 of which were spent on the board) and was chief executive of Downstream.

As group chief executive of Centrica he focused on repositioning its portfolio towards distributed, lower-carbon technologies, services and solutions.

Conn joins Shell’s former chief financial officer Simon Henry who already has an advisory role with Oxford Flow’s board. Conn is also an advisor to Oxford Sciences Innovation and its deep tech portfolio.

Neil Poxon, chief executive at Oxford Flow, said: “We have developed an ambitious roadmap for growth and diversification. Iain’s extensive experience from a strategic and operational perspective will enable us to penetrate into new sectors, like oil and gas, at a faster rate. As we see the energy and water industries face mounting challenges like tackling emissions and reducing non-revenue water, his steadfast guidance will prove invaluable.

“What’s really powerful is the combination of Iain and Simon together – we’re incredibly proud to have such impressive industry names as part of our board and advisory. With Simon’s commercial expertise, Iain’s technical track record and their joint strategic experiences, we believe we can maximise value for all stakeholders.”