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British Gas workers stage 26th day of strike action

BRITISH GAS workers were on strike again today to resist bosses’ attacks on their pay and working hours.

More than 7,000 gas engineers and office staff, who are members of union GMB, staged their 26th day of strike action.

The company is demanding they work more hours for less pay, and has threatened to fire and rehire the workforce unless they agree to new contracts.

But this week, parent company Centrica announced profits of £700 million and is handing bonuses to bosses and dividends to shareholders.

The mood was both buoyant and angry on the picket line outside the British Gas regional office in Leeds in West Yorkshire, where more than 30 strikers demonstrated.

“Everybody is peeved about how they have been treating us,” said striker and GMB activist Liz Robinson. 

“They’ve handed out £700 million. If they get away with that other bosses will try it too.”

GMB Yorkshire and North Derbyshire regional organiser John O’Malley said: “They can pay out shareholders at great speed while claiming that they are in a bad position.

“This dispute is a failure of their senior management team and is against workers who have throughout the last year worked to keep the country warm.”

Striker Dave Douglas, senior lay union rep for engineers, said: “We are their biggest group of workers. They want longer hours for less pay, undoing everything we have achieved in pay and conditions for the last 20 years.

“And it’s not just about pay and conditions. It’s about the work-life balance and family life as well.”

More action is planned across Britain.

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