A MASS sacking of British Gas engineers will happen on April 1 unless they accept a 15 per cent cut in pay and new terms and conditions, GMB has warned.  

A meeting of the general union’s central executive council today is set to consider whether to declare an official national lockout dispute with British Gas unless the company withdraws its “fire and rehire” threat.

Lockouts — where bosses shut staff out of the workplace to stop them working  — have historically been used by bosses to bully staff into accepting cuts to their pay and working conditions but are now very rare.

Thousands of GMB members took their 38th day of strike action yesterday as they demanded a change of course from Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas’s parent company Centrica.

GMB national secretary Justin Bowden said Mr O’Shea had created an end-of-the-month “cliff edge and was driving the company at high speed towards it.”

“For the CEO to gamble the future of a profitable business on a strategic decision of mass sackings is illogical. It will leave everyone bewildered,” he said. 

“Mr O’Shea [has already] apologised for undermining trust by accepting dodgy legal advice to go ahead with ‘fire and rehire’ and promised never ever to go down this road again.

“[He] should do what’s right and take April 1 off the table.”

A Centrica spokesperson said: “We must change to protect 20,000 jobs. There is a job for everyone at the end of this difficult process, and our new terms are very competitive.

“We have made sure colleagues have the information they need to make a choice.”