British Gas managers under fire as workers back strike

The GMB union said its members backed strikes by 82per cent, and industrial action short of a strike by 90 per cent in a high turnout of the 8,000 workers balloted.

The union has given British Gas a week to respond before deciding its next move.

General secretary Paul Kenny said: "The vote clearly vindicates what we have been telling the company. It is now time for them to sit up and take notice.

"We are giving British Gas a week to give us a constructive response. We want an independent inquiry into the profit at all costs culture at British Gas."

The GMB said British Gas had turned from being a reasonable employer where people had job satisfaction into one with a culture of bullying, customer exploitation and profits at all costs following management changes.

Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles, a former leader of Bradford Council, said: "We are facing a spring of discontent as yet another union flex their muscles and threaten to walk out.

"We need a strong government to stand up for the interests of this country, not one that's reliant on union barons propping them up."

Matthew Bateman, director of heating services at British Gas, accused the GMB of false accusations and reckless scaremongering. "The GMB has still not told us the grounds for this dispute, even though we have asked for this information several times," he said.

Mr Bateman claimed the company's engineers recently voted British Gas one of the top 25 big companies to work for.