UK workers on zero hour contracts have more than tripled since 2012, climbing from 252,000 to 901,000 workers
Tags: zero hours
Short term contracts increase worldwide
Just a quarter of workers in the world have a permanent job, suggesting that the amount of agency staff and temporary employees are on the rise globally.
Jon Rhymes: How technology will transform the temporary jobs market
Jon Rhymes, co-founder of WorkGaps, believes that technology rather than legislation can make zero-hours contracts work better for both employers and workers.
Zero hours and flexible working pushing people into financial difficulty
Nearly two-thirds of employees on incomes that fluctuate each week or month have revealed they sometimes or often have trouble ensuring their financial commitments are covered. According to new research conducted on behalf of Debt Advisory Centre (DAC), nearly one in 20 (3.7%) respondents are on a zero hours or similar flexible temporary contract. Meanwhile, slightly more…
Zero hour exclusivity clauses to be banned
Employees on zero hours contracts will have the freedom to find work with more than one employer after Business Secretary Vince Cable announced plans to ban exclusivity clauses. Exclusivity clauses prevent an individual from working for another employer, even when no work is guaranteed. The use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts undermines choice…
CBI calls for zero hours to be protected, ahead of Queens Speech today
The CBI commented on possible new legislation expected to be announced in the Queen’s Speech. Katja Hall, CBI Deputy Director-General, said: “With the economic recovery gathering momentum and broadening out, we want the final session of Parliament to help embed growth and job creation for the long-term, delivering prosperity for all. At this stage of…
Zero hour workers feel deep sense of exclusion
An Acas study published today reveals that many workers on a zero hours contract feel excluded from the sense of security, fairness and trust that’s associated with permanent contracts of employment. Acas’ discussion paper Give and take? Unravelling the true nature of zero-hours contracts looked at recent research around zero hours contracts as well as employers and…
Some Labour recommendations on zero hours go too far, warns CIPD
The CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, has today offered its broad support to Labour party proposals to prevent the exploitative use of zero hours contracts, but warns that some recommendations go too far and urges policy makers to remember that, in many cases, zero hours contracts can work well for both…
Global fast-food companies should ‘stop this shameful exploitation’ of workers, says Beth Farhat of the TUC
Fresh from a winning a successful campaign to stop zero contract culture at Hovis in Wigan, the Bakers union BFAWU has agreed to work with other groups to address the lack of fairness and justice for workers in the UK’s fast-food industry. Recent announcements from these hugely profitable companies regarding their use of unpaid labour…
2014 could hold major repercussions for workplace relations
2014 is set to be another busy year in the world of employment law. As well as the on-going ‘root and branch’ Employment Law review by the government, a number of judicial decisions with major repercussions for future workplace relations are set to be announced. Arpita Dutt, a senior partner with City employment law specialists…
Will the recovery benefit everyone? TUC thinks not
Whose growth?’ will be the defining political question in 2014 says TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady in her new year message as new polling commissioned by the TUC shows that only one in 50 voters say they are already benefiting from the recovery – and only one in five say they expect to in the new year.…
Vince Cable launches consultation into zero-hours contracts but says there will be no ban
Companies could be banned from imposing exclusivity on zero hours contracts which offer no guarantee of work and stop employees from working for another company, under new proposals announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable. These measures come as part of efforts to boost fairness for workers. In a consultation launched yesterday (19 December 2013), the government…
Matthew Sanders: Zero hour contracts – good for nobody
Recent media buzz about the use of zero hour contracts has divided both the public and UK businesses perception on the issue. News coverage has segmented the story every way from naming individual companies and looking at how it affects the public sector, right through to which sectors rely most heavily on zero hour contracts.…
More pressure on zero-hours contracts in Scottish universities
UCU warned that the extensive use of zero-hours contracts in Scottish universities was bad for lecturers and bad for students. The union has submitted evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry into the use of zero-hours contracts ahead of today’s (14th October) deadline for submissions. Last month the union published data on the use of zero-hours…
Nikki Duncan: Legal comment on pledged crackdown on zero hours
Hard on the heels of Ed Miliband’s vow, at the TUC’s annual conference, to crack down on the abuse of zero-hour contracts, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has used the Lib-Dem Conference to highlight the Government’s own, somewhat similar, plans. Whilst Ed Miliband has announced the appointment of the former Head of HR at Morrisons,…