GMB secures inflation-busting pay hikes for energy workers

On
the day after chancellor Gordon Brown’s call for pay restraint, the GMB general
workers union has announced that it has negotiated inflation-busting pay rises
for 11,000 gas workers.

Around
6,000 emergency and repair engineers in Transco, which runs the national gas
distribution system, have accepted 5.25 per cent. And 5,000 technicians in
British Gas have accepted basic rises up to 10 per cent. Both deals are
retrospectively effective from 1 April 2004.

GMB
national secretary Brian Strutton said: "The recruitment and retention
problem in the gas sector has been recognised for some time and it was
important that the national gas companies secure a deal that reflected the
skills of the workforce in the industry and made the terms and conditions
attractive to new people.

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"In
skilled sectors, like gas, inflation-busting pay deals will help to retain the
existing workforces and encourage new people to come in to the industry,"
he said.

By Mike Berry