Centrica Share Discussion Threads

[temujiin] 08/2/2021 08:21

'Now the unions say the investors have not lost enough and the workers have not been paid enough'

Stop making stuff up. The unions have not said that at all, it's just a poster on a BB has said that.

I'm a union member and GMB have never suggested Centrica be re-nationalised which would be a disaster. We only need to see what happened to Robin Hood utility.

BTW - Joan Gillman Has Resigned From Board, As A Non-executive Director, With Effect From 8 February 2021.

Previously Johnathan Ford stepped down As Group Chief Financial Officer and from the Board on 31 January 2021.

Both probably didn't like the way the company is being run.

[riskvsreward] 08/2/2021 08:03

Wow, the investor have not seen a penny for several years and have seen their capital down 80%. Now the unions say the investors have not lost enough and the workers have not been paid enough, who is greedy here? Move on to take money from tax payers is no solution. You have to put in more than you take out in any walk of the society to make it function properly!

[ohoh] 08/2/2021 07:54

The comments against the workforce perfectly illustrate why this company should be nationalised, the greedy investors as they sometimes labelled have no interest in workers rights because it takes away from the profits. Some companies just cant operate under these conditions.

[riskvsreward] 07/2/2021 23:36

The fact that the company has been loss making for many years means the majority of the employees are not earning their keep, management included. So no wonder 89% voted for strike as they have had it too good for too long perhaps?

[supermarky] 07/2/2021 18:12

Yep, there is now quite a few positives and star aligning for cna (tentatively)

[supermarky] 07/2/2021 18:09

Bottom line cna share price has been decimated over the last 7/8 years and needs to make hard and unpopular decisions in order to reverse the terminal decline. Tough decisions always make people squeal like pigs but sometimes (even in this snowflake era) hard decisions are necessary.

[temujiin] 07/2/2021 16:37

'If BG engineers have been so badly treated and exploited'.

In the past the GMB union and company have negotiated hard but fairly and always come to an agreement, like for example capping pension increases.

Under O'Shea he basically said before negotiations had started that engineers will be fired if they don't agree to his proposals. That's just as wrong and stupid as if the union had balloted to strike before beginning pay negotiations. O'Shea is a huge liability for Centrica.

Views regarding whether or not the engineers are good engineers or not, or are being treated fairly or not are irrelevant. What matter is how this will effect BG, and it's looking pretty ugly atm with

Massive amounts of jobs outstanding
A two year backlog of services needing to be done
Customers complaints rocketing
Company costs rocketing
Engineering work force loyalty/goodwill destroyed
Sickness increasing
BG brand being tarnished.

Now some may think this is all worthwhile, that it'll be alright in a few months. I think you need a reality check as O'Shea plans mean this isn't going to end well for anyone, engineers, customers or share holders.

[deutsch4] 07/2/2021 15:16

If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Best is....never do a bad job when you can do a good one. - This should be every tradesman's mantra!

[bookbroker] 07/2/2021 14:14

I can imagine in five years this will be a pure supplier, and likely use contractors for all its work, whoever wins the contract will have a nice little business.

[temujiin] 07/2/2021 13:39

Norma_Stitts, I understood core hours could be up to 7PM but I stand corrected if the company can roster workers start times as late as mid afternoon, ie finish time 11PM.

Bookbroker, flexibility is fine and working from home becoming more common, but companies should not fire thousands of loyal employees unless they sign to work a month extra for no pay, lose 3 days holiday and be told their working hours can be almost whatever the company decide week to week.

O'Shea hasn't reversed BG from decline, he's accelerating it's demise by losing or alienating the majority of the workforce that delivers the product that customers pay for.

If O'Shea doesn't change his tune, BG will be a mess for years to come, will lose significant numbers of customers and competitors will grab them and the engineers.

He's halfway to ruining the end product as well as the brand!

[bookbroker] 07/2/2021 13:02

To be honest we are living in an age where flexibility of work hours is becoming more and more the norm, but I do not know the precise terms of the existing contracts.

[temujiin] 07/2/2021 12:55

Deutsch, do you or your partner work?

If so and your employer said agree to work a month extra for free, lose 3 days holiday a year, be told your working day could start from any time between 7AM to 11AM and if you don't agree you will be sacked with not even statutory redundancy.

Would you roll over and go, yeah, I'm up for that, no issues, no protests, where do I sign?

It's incredible you could even think that it is ok for any employer to do such a thing!

[temujiin] 07/2/2021 12:50

'Their pay is poor compared to others'.
Perhaps, but not according to O'Shea who thinks they are over paid and they need to work an extra month a year for free.

BG customers generally rate BG engineers highly on NPS scores, although they generally rate the back office and communication as the problem to be solved. But however you view BG engineers, the customers are getting very poor service atm for a premium contract and the O'Shea/BG are in total disarray and denial of the current problem and impact of his policy.

[deutsch4] 07/2/2021 12:42

In other words the customers get poor value for what they pay. - Responsibility for customer satisfaction is with the individual tradesman (lack of standards helps no one). When half the country is struggling to make ends meet industrial action leaves a bad smell.

[davesmith_uk66] 07/2/2021 12:15

The reputation of BG's engineers in the wider heating industry is fairly abysmal. Their pay is poor compared to others and their work very target driven. They represent poor value for most customers and I think this is becoming quite widely known.

[deutsch4] 07/2/2021 11:48

Unions taking advantage of the situation the country is in . - These guys are not on working class minimum wages. - lots and lots of the customers are. - Outdated political tactics i'm afraid - backwards looking. - I'm all right jack all over again.

[temujiin] 07/2/2021 11:12

Believe what you want Bookbroker. But what I've said above is all factually correct to the best of my knowledge and I suspect, tho may be wrong, that I have better knowledge of the situation re the dispute than you do.

As for your idea that contractors will solve BGs problems, dream on. Customers pay a premium for quality work by engineers that care about them. They even walked to customers during the beast from the east and have been known to take parts of their boilers to get a vulnerable cutomers boiler working same day. You cant contract that kind of dedication.

Everyone can make their own minds up as to how this will play out. You obv think stiffing the 5000 engineering work force creating a hostile enviroment or a move to a contractor base will be a good move, fair enough, you are entitled to think that.

I suspect though, you may find O'Sheas scorched earth policy will proved to be anything but good for BG and Centrica.

[bookbroker] 06/2/2021 09:07

When you have a heavily regulated market such as the price cap, it is inevitable that companies like CNA will find it tough. And as a result of having a high debt load it has added even more pressure. However things are looking up significantly, the asset disposals are progressing, likely Spirit will go this year, and hopefully nuclear may well be resolved. This will then be a focused energy supplier, and the smaller incumbents are being wasted by scale and regulation, leaving CNA in a stronger position. The debt load is vastly reduced with the sale of Direct, and the pension shortfalls are being addressed. This is a much stronger company now than three years ago, albeit a good deal smaller.