LONDON - British Gas engineers came closer to a strike action on Monday after talks have broken down. And if there is no solution to this problem, the GMB union could have more strikes in the lead up to the holiday season.
The main problem between the management and the staff is the decision to deny the final pension scheme to new staff. The British Gas engineers have also decided not to attend out-of-hours calls between December 12 to 23 and January 4 to 10. "We are clearly both disappointed and frustrated that we have been unable to persuade the union to reconsider," said Mish Tullar, British Gas director of communications.
British Gas parent company Centrica has maintained that the pension schemes offered by the company is one of the best on the market and that this strike action by the engineers is not fair, "We still do not see this strike action can be warranted. This change we are putting in place does not impact on existing engineers," Tullar added. He also said that if the strike action were to go ahead, the company had contingency plans in place so that the most vulnerable sections of the society including the elderly and people with disabilities are protected.
On its part, the GMB Union maintains that they had only requested that British Gas put off the scheme until a reevaluation had taken place. "They have refused to do this so the strike will go ahead," said Brian Strutton, GMB national secretary. "We have fully co-operated with the company to ensure that emergency arrangements are in place."
Besides Monday, strikes have been planned for 19 and 21 and January 6 and 9 putting 150,000 homes at risk if any failure were to occur in the crucial holiday season. Almost 6,000 engineers have agreed to take part in the strike action.
Posted
on : Sun, 11 Dec 2005 06:45 GMT | Loans News
By : Pippa Fielding
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