Thousands of British Gas engineers and call center workers will unload equipment from Thursday as part of a five-day national strike in response to the energy giant’s “fire and rehire” plan.

The strike was called by the GMB trade union after 89% of the 9,000 British Gas members voted in favor of the industry after negotiations with executives broke down with Britain’s largest fuel supplier last year.

The union expects 2,000,000 engineers and 2,000 call center workers who are part of its membership to participate but will restrict picketing due to coronavirus restrictions.

The strike comes after months of heated discussions between union representatives and energy agency executives over plans to reduce strikes and move workers to new contracts.