British Gas set to axe hundreds of engineers over ‘fire and hire’ contracts


’s () British Gas arm is to set to fire hundreds of engineers who refused to sign new contracts with longer hours and no boost for unsociable hours.

The nine-month dispute with the boiler repairers came to a head today after dismissal notices were handed out on 1 April to 1,000 who had not agreed to the new terms and conditions.

There was a two-week grace period for a change of mind but 500 had still refused by close of play yesterday.

British Gas said it expected between 300-400 engineers to lose their job.

The company set out the plans last summer to increase productivity, but the move sparked a furious response from the GMB union.

The union has staged several strikes against the new contracts including a five-day stoppage by engineers in January and said that many who had signed had done so under duress and the ‘fire and rehire’ contracts had tarnished British Gas’s reputation.

A spokesman for British Gas said: While change is difficult, reversing our decline, – which has seen us lose over three million customers, cut over 15,000 jobs and seen profits halved over the last 10 years –is necessary.”

Shares in Centrica dropped 2.4% to  55.64p.



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