Fire-and-rehire is a brutal way to rebuild a company. It must be banned

British Gas engineers with years of service have been dismissed in an aggressive restructuring. These tactics are shameful

At the beginning of last week, British Gas began retrieving the vans and tools used by hundreds of its gas engineers before one of the largest mass dismissals in recent British history. Days later, between 300 to 400 staff lost their jobs for refusing to sign up to new contract terms imposed by its FTSE 100 parent company.

For some engineers, the British Gas kit used to repair and install the boilers and heating systems of millions of customers across the country had been part of their lives for decades. It was the same equipment used to restore warmth to homes during the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, when engineers clad in PPE stood in the frontline of their employer's pandemic response.

British Gas had to act to preserve its financial future, but it did not have to treat its workforce unfairly in doing so