The 2021 British Gas strike was a labour strike by British Gas workers in the United Kingdom. The workers, represented by the GMB union, opposed British Gas' "fire and rehire" plans, where the company planned mass layoffs of employees, with the goal of ultimately rehiring them on less favourable contracts without having to negotiate over terms. [1] [2] [3]
British Gas is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Centrica. It serves around 12 million homes in the United Kingdom, the biggest energy supplier in the country, and is considered one of the Big Six dominating the gas and electricity market in the United Kingdom. [4] In 2020, the company had around 27,000 employees, 20,000 of which are based in the UK, including 7,500 service engineers.
In recent years, British Gas has seen a relative decline in fortunes. The British Gas brand lost 750,000 domestic customers in 2017 amid intense competition, contributing to a February 2018 announcement that 4,000 jobs would be cut. [5] In June 2020, Centrica announced that it would fire 5,000 staff, saying that it was necessary "to arrest our decline." [6]
Later in 2020, Centrica told British Gas engineers that it wanted to change the terms of their contracts and would only accept a short negotiating period, or else it would fire most of the engineers on 1 April 2021 and rehire them on Centrica-dictated contracts. In August 2020, the GMB held a consultative ballot on a potential strike, with 95% of workers voting in favour. [7] In October 2020, Centrica announced that it would no longer negotiate and would proceed with the fire-and-rehire plans if the workers did not accept its terms, which would see engineers forced to work an additional three hours each week, would eliminate higher rates of pay for work hours on weekends and holidays, and would reduce notice for the summer and winter shifts rosters, among other changes. Some workers would lose up to £12,000 annually in pay. [8] The GMB subsequently held a vote among the workers, with 89% voting to reject Centrica's terms. [9] In its December 2020 preliminary results, British Gas reported profits of £80m. Centrica also received £27m from the government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. [10]
On 7 January, thousands of British Gas workers across the United Kingdom walked off the job, beginning a two-week strike. [11] [12] In late January, Welsh Labour and Cooperative Party MP Stephen Doughty told the House of Commons that Centrica had issued section 188 notices to its staff in July 2020, before negotiations had started, despite Centrica CEO Chris O'Shea's public assurances to the contrary. [13] [14] At the end of January, as Centrica remained committed to its fire-and-rehire plans, the union extended the strike through February. [15] [16]
In mid-February, the GMB paused the strike temporarily after Centrica offered to re-enter negotiations. That month, however, Centrica announced changes to the salary deductions for industrial action, which one engineer described as:
Typically, a month’s payroll in British Gas is paid in the middle of the month and includes overtime accrued from the first few days. But in February the company announced that industrial action taken up to the 8th would be deducted from that month’s pay, instead of March’s paypacket. This put the company in a curious position of deducting strike pay for those taking action on 8 February, but not paying overtime for those who chose to work that day providing emergency cover. Incredibly, some engineers even went into negative pay. Many of us felt this was a new low – an attempt to hit the morale of engineers who had already suffered eight months of sleepless nights over the threat of fire and rehire. The bitterness felt by workers who have given years of their life to this company can’t be overestimated. [17]
By the end of February, after 22 days of strike, the union estimated that up to 300,000 planned annual service visits had had to be cancelled. British Gas, however, refused to back down from the fire and rehire plans. [18] The GMB then announced that the strike would continue. [19] In March, a 38 Degrees petition against British Gas' fire-and-rehire policy gathered over 50,000 signatures. [20]
On 16 April, around 500 engineers, 2% of the British Gas workforce, were fired after refusing to replace their contracts with one that included less pay and more hours. The GMB accused British Gas of "the largest mass dismissal in living memory," saying that the pay cuts amounted to 15% in real terms. [21] [22]
On 18 May, the GMB revealed that HM Revenue and Customs had put the fired engineers on the self-assessment tax code, incorrectly added an additional £1,000 to their tax bills. It was also revealed that O'Shea's salary had increased from £675,000 to £775,000 and that he had been awarded £2 million in shares. [23]
In July 2021, the GMB announced that it was calling off the strike, stating that 75% of workers had voted to accept a new pay deal that would limit the number of unsocial hours a worker could be scheduled for and would improve pay for those hours. [24] Later that month, Centrica announced British Gas had more than doubled its profits for the first six months of 2021 compared to 2020, up to £172 million. [25]
Journalist Owen Jones stated that the strikers "have succeeded in raising the profile of this grim means of undercutting rights" and that "British Gas was a jewel in the crown of Britain’s privatisation programme of the 1980s and 90s, a nationally respected institution. Today, it is a byword for rip-off services and now a poster boy for tawdry treatment of workers." [26] On 9 May, a Survation poll commissioned by the GMB found that 76% of the British public believed that fire and rehire schemes should be illegal. [27]
The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (NHS), ambulance service and local government.
Termination of employment or separation of employment is an employee's departure from a job and the end of an employee's duration with an employer. Termination may be voluntary on the employee's part (resignation), or it may be at the hands of the employer, often in the form of dismissal (firing) or a layoff. Dismissal or firing is usually thought to be the employee's fault, whereas a layoff is generally done for business reasons outside the employee's performance.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom. From 1 April 2024, the minimum wage is £11.44 per hour for people aged 21 and over, £8.60 for 18- to 20-year-olds, and £6.40 for 16- to 17-year-olds and apprentices aged under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship.
Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire. Its principal activity is the supply of electricity and gas to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
A work-in is a form of direct action under which workers whose jobs are under threat resolve to remain in their place of employment and to continue producing, without pay. Their intention is usually to show that their place of work still has long-term viability or that it can be effectively self-managed by the workers.
British Gas is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving around ten million homes in the United Kingdom, British Gas was the largest electricity supplier in the country until 2024 when it was overtaken by Octopus Energy. It remains the largest gas supplier. It is considered one of the Big Six dominating the gas and electricity market in the United Kingdom.
The 2009 Royal Mail industrial disputes is an industrial dispute in the United Kingdom involving Royal Mail and members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which began in the summer of 2009. It was the country's first industrial action involving postal workers since 2007 and came about after the Communication Workers Union accused Royal Mail of refusing to enter into dialogue regarding how the implementation of modernisation plans would affect the job security of postal workers.
Phillip Keague Bentley is a British businessman. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Mitie, and formerly the CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications. and the managing director of British Gas, the British retail arm of the energy company Centrica.
Hermes Europe GmbH is a German delivery company headquartered in Hamburg, owned by the retail company Otto GmbH.
Michael Joseph Patrick Kane is a British politician who has served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, Kane has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wythenshawe and Sale East since 2014.
Deliveroo is a British online food delivery company founded by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013 in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly operated in Germany, Taiwan, Spain, the Netherlands, and Australia. Its subsidiary operation, Deliveroo Editions operates dark kitchens for the preparation of delivery-only meals.
United Voices of the World (UVW) is an independent grassroots trade union, established in London in 2014.
Chris O'Shea is a British businessman. He has been the chief executive (CEO) of Centrica since early 2020. He has been a non-executive director of ITT since May 2024.
The July 2020 United Kingdom summer statement was a statement from the British Government, or mini-budget statement, delivered on 8 July 2020 by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It followed the budget delivered earlier in the year, and preceded the Winter Economy Plan. The purpose of the statement was to announce measures aimed at helping to promote economic recovery following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement was delivered to the House of Commons, where Sunak unveiled a spending package worth £30bn. Concerns were subsequently raised by organisations including HM Revenue and Customs and the Institute for Fiscal Studies about the statement's impact, as well as its cost-effectiveness, while at least one major retailer declined to take advantage of a financial bonus scheme intended for rehiring employees placed on furlough during the pandemic.
The 2021 Go North West strike was a labour strike involving bus drivers working for Go North West, a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England, that lasted from 28 February to 18 May. The strike involved approximately 500 drivers unionised with Unite the Union and was caused by disagreements over the labour contracts between the company and employees.
The 2021–2023 Stagecoach strikes were a series of labour strikes by Stagecoach Group bus drivers, cleaners and engineers across the United Kingdom, the first of which began in 2021. Represented by Unite the Union, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) or the GMB, workers in over 20 different areas were involved in labour disputes with Stagecoach, with strikes being called in several of those areas.
The 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes were an industrial dispute between rail workers and companies, with the latter supported by the UK government. The rail workers are represented by several unions including the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF). The railway strikes commenced on 21 June 2022 after workers walked out over wages, planned changes to working practices – involving the removal of guards from trains, the reduction in the number of open ticket offices, and an increase in the age at which people could claim the young persons and senior citizen card – and the threat of redundancies. The industrial action was the largest in the sector since 1989, and involved 40,000 workers nationwide.
Since May–June 2022, a series of labour strikes and industrial disputes have occurred in various industries of the United Kingdom's economy as workers walked out over pay and conditions. The strikes took place with rising inflation, and demands for pay increases that would keep pace with this inflation.
Starting in May 2022, postal workers in the United Kingdom undertook a series of strikes and industrial disputes. They principally involved members of Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at both Royal Mail and the Post Office. Post Office strikes ended in April 2023 after workers agreed to a 9% pay rise plus a cash lump sum. The Royal Mail strikes ended three months later in July 2023 after workers agreed to a three-year pay deal with Royal Mail.
The 2022–present National Health Service (NHS) strikes are several ongoing industrial disputes in the publicly funded health services of the United Kingdom.
