BRITISH Gas engineers have voted to strike in a dispute over pensions, threatening walkouts over Christmas, it was announced.
The GMB said the 6,000 workers, who service and repair domestic boilers, had backed walkouts by a ratio of four to one.
Shop stewards will decide next week on the dates for industrial action, but the union warned that strikes were likely to start in the next four weeks.
The dispute centres on plans by British Gas's parent firm Centrica to close the engineers' final salary pension scheme to new starters from January.
Brian Strutton, national officer of the GMB, said: "The engineers have shown by this huge vote that they are determined to protect their pension and the pension of future British Gas engineers.
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