Britain’s Gmb Union to Hold Strike at British Gas on Feb. 5-8

LONDON (Reuters) -The GMB union said on Monday that engineers and other staff at Centrica’s British Gas will go on strike on Feb. 5-8 in a dispute over proposed changes to work conditions.

Centrica said in June it planned to cut about 5,000 jobs, almost 20% of its global workforce, and change terms of worker contracts, as Britain’s largest energy supplier stepped up restructuring in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GMB said union members would not agree to a pay deal that was 15% below agreed rates and other adverse changes.

The latest action follows 12 days of strikes so far this year over what GMT called plans to “fire and rehire” and cuts to workers’ pay and terms.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair)