{"id":28431,"date":"2021-04-15T16:29:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T15:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28431"},"modified":"2021-04-15T16:29:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T15:29:16","slug":"short-notice-shifts-are-damaging-workers-health-and-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28431","title":{"rendered":"Short notice shifts are\u00c2\u00a0damaging workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 health and families"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite has warned that the failure of many businesses to provide adequate notice of shift patterns is damaging workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 health and destroying family lives.<\/p>\n

Unite issued its warning today (April 15) following the publication of a survey by the\u00c2\u00a0Living Wage Foundation<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0that found where workers operated on variable hours or shifts, more than three fifths (62 per cent) were only given notice of a week or less about when they would be working.<\/p>\n

The problem of variable shift working is found in many of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s industrial sectors, but is a particular problem in the areas of HGV driving, delivery driving, warehousing and logistics.<\/p>\n

The constant changing of shifts results in workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 health being damaged through long-term fatigue, due to a lack of rest and recovery time. It also causes huge emotional strain on family life and makes it virtually impossible to organise childcare.<\/p>\n

An additional factor, which is a major issue for warehouse and delivery staff, is being required to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098stay on\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 beyond the end of shifts for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098operational reasons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 if a delivery is late, with no flexibility of the start of the next shift, further reducing rest and recovery time.<\/p>\n

Variable start and finishing times make it very difficult for workers to utilise public transport and leaves them having to rely on a car to\u00c2\u00a0journey\u00c2\u00a0to and from work.<\/p>\n

Unite has found that workers who are most affected by changing shift patterns and unclear finishing times are often the lowest paid\u00c2\u00a0and frequently have multiple jobs, where a lack of consistency has an even greater impact on their health and family lives.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLack of notice of shifts and the failure to ensure workers have sufficient rest, is destroying workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 long-term health and leaving them permanently fatigued,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite national officer Matt Draper.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is not just workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 physical health which is damaged, constantly changing work patterns undermines family and social lives, making isolation and loneliness a big problem, which in terms impacts on workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mental health.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf workers do not have a consistent work pattern affordable childcare is almost impossible to arrange.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor professional drivers and warehouse staff the problem of short notice of shifts is compounded by a requirement to stay on at work often without warning due to the needs of the employer.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLike so many workplace problems it is the lowest paid, who often undertake multiple jobs and are often on glorified zero hours contracts, who suffer the greatest from short notice shift patterns and being forced to stay on past official finishing times.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhere Unite has organised workplaces, one of the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s key priorities is to regularise work patterns, in order to tackle the problems of short notice shifts.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe problem of short notice and ever changing shift patterns is only going to be tackled by workers becoming organised, joining a union and working collectively to tackle exploitative and damaging working conditions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 concluded Draper.<\/p>\n

By Barckley Sumner <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has warned that the failure of many businesses to provide adequate notice of shift patterns is damaging workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 health and destroying family lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[111,358],"wps_subtitle":"Unite warns businesses they are \u00e2\u20ac\u0098destroying workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28431"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28433,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431\/revisions\/28433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}