Leicester picket line of British Gas engineers, striking for five days to maintain their present working conditions and pay, 8 January 2021, photo Leicester SP

Leicester picket line of British Gas engineers, striking for five days to maintain their present working conditions and pay, 8 January 2021, photo Leicester SP   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

British Gas engineers in the GMB union have announced seven new strike dates, for 24 hours each day, on 20, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31 January and 1 February. The workers have been out on strike for five days so far against massive attacks on their pay and terms and conditions.

These include an increase in working hours for no extra pay. This is in addition to driving time to customers’ homes at the start of the day, and back at the end, being excluded from working hours, plus attacks on holidays and rota systems, and more.

Leicester Socialist Party members have been on the physical picket line on Aylestone Road showing solidarity.

The holding company for British Gas, Centrica, made £901 million in profits last year. The Socialist Party campaigns for renationalisation of the industry, with democratic workers’ control, so that this kind of profiteering management can be removed.