A British Gas engineer on strike, Leicester, photo Steve Score

A British Gas engineer on strike, Leicester, photo Steve Score   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Thousands of British Gas engineers in the GMB union took strike action against before the deadline for the signing of new contracts, imposed through ‘fire and rehire’.

The new terms affect the entire 20,000 strong British Gas workforce, but its 7,500 service engineers, who carry out repairs, will be the worst affected.

Under the new terms, full-time engineers would be required to work an extra three hours a week, 40 hours in total, and would not be paid a higher rate to work when required on weekends and public holidays.

See future issues of the Socialist and socialistparty.org.uk for updates on the dispute.