Gas, Information & consultation

The GMB energy and general union declared an end to the long and bitter dispute with British Gas over its aggressive policy of firing and rehiring workers. GMB members voted three to one to accept a new deal. Around 7,000 British Gas engineers staged 44 days of strike action after the company threatened to sack them if they didn’t sign up to detrimental changes to their terms and conditions. The new deal offers improvements to overtime rates and unsocial hours payments, places limits on the amount of unsocial working undertaken, reverses the decision to close the defined benefit pension scheme

Services union ver.di has successfully fought off attempts by the Nord Residenz care company to shut down the works council. On 27 April, the regional labour court in Bremen in North West Germany ruled against the company’s attempts to dismiss the works council chair and her deputy, expel them from the works council and dissolve the works council itself. Nord Residenz is owned by the French multinational Orpea. Ver.di welcomed the many messages of solidarity support from trade unions across Europe and interventions by the state government and mayor of Bremen. Meanwhile, the union faces a major

The main public sector unions, including federations from CCOO and UGT, have called on the government to ensure that trade unions are fully involved in any discussions about reforming public administration. The government has announced that a group of experts from different fields would be established to analyse and formulate proposals for reform. The unions say that it unacceptable that any such work that will affect the working conditions of public employees in areas like digitalisation, for example, should be carried out without negotiation or union participation. The unions are now waiting