STRIKING British Gas engineers are ramping up industrial action against the company’s fire-and-rehire tactics, with three more four-day stoppages announced today.

As some 7,000 workers downed tools again for a four-day strike straddling the weekend, the GMB union said that action would continue in a similar pattern, starting every Friday, for the rest of February.

The dispute centres on the company’s attempt – using tactics that even Tory ministers have condemned – to impose pay cuts and inferior conditions that would lead to engineers working up to 150 more hours a year without pay.

Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, told MPs earlier this week that dismissal notices issued to all staff last summer had been prompted by incorrect legal advice – but he has nonetheless refused to take fire-and-rehire off the table.

With no resolution in sight, the union’s executive has given the green light to further action as far ahead as April, inevitably adding to a backlog of repairs that it estimates at 170,000, on top of more than 200,000 planned service calls.

GMB national secretary Justin Bowden said: “Mr O’Shea is pressing on, despite telling Parliament his acceptance of dodgy legal advice led to strikes and the breakdown of trust with his field staff. “

Dismissing Centrica’s claim that most staff have accepted new contracts, Mr Bowden said that field workers had made clear that they “are not prepared to accept the imposed cuts to pay and conditions.”

Shadow employment rights secretary Andy McDonald repeated Labour’s call for the government to outlaw fire-and-rehire tactics and urged British Gas to drop the “disgraceful practice.”

When the current stoppage ends on Monday, the workers will have taken 16 days of action.

The company, which insists that it has tabled a “fair” deal, said: “We have strong contingency plans in place to ensure we will still be there for customers who really need us, and we’ll prioritise vulnerable households and emergencies.”