{"id":3538,"date":"2015-04-01T17:22:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T16:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3538"},"modified":"2015-04-02T14:10:18","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T13:10:18","slug":"stop-the-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3538","title":{"rendered":"Stop the suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Imagine being a single parent struggling on benefits. You look long and hard for some sort of stable job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c anything that will pay the bills and feed your child. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finally hired. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on a zero hours contract, but no matter. At least it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something.<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly, this young woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, recalls how overjoyed his daughter was to finally be given the opportunity to get back on her feet.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe was so happy when she first got the job; so over the moon,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe was given a certain number of hours every week while she was in training to be a health worker.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut when she completed her training, they almost stopped giving her any hours – three hours here, three hours there.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey would call her one day and ask if she could come in the next day. As a single parent, my daughter would tell them, ‘Let me just see if my father can look after his granddaughter.’ Then they’d text her back and tell her not to bother, that they’ve found someone else.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nNow, Kelly says, his daughter is completely distraught.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe wanted so badly to get off unemployment benefits; she wanted to work so she could pay her own bills,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explains.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut they’ve put her in a position where she doesn’t know whether she’s working or not working. I can’t believe an organisation can behave in this way to people. And we allow it to happen. It’s just crazy.”<\/p>\n

 
\nKelly was one of the many people who called in to BBC Radio 5 this morning <\/a>(April 1) to tell their personal stories about life on a zero hours contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an exploitative work arrangement that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exploded in popularity under the coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s watch.<\/p>\n

 
\nNow, it is estimated that there 1.8m people on such contracts. And figures indicate that these contracts are being used on an increasingly exponential scale \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of the new jobs created over the past year, one in seven have been zero hours jobs.<\/p>\n

 
\nGrowing epidemic<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nIn response to what Ed Miliband called an \u00e2\u20ac\u015bepidemic\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of zero hours contracts, Labour announced today (April 1) that, if elected, it would take decisive action to stop this epidemic.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe party has committed to a ban of the exploitative contracts, and will guarantee anyone working regular hours for 12 weeks the right to a regular contract.<\/p>\n

 
\nLabour will also give workers on zero-hours contracts new legal rights that will bar employers from forcing workers to be available at all hours. They will likewise prohibit the common practice of cancelling shifts at short notice without compensation.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the sort of measure that would help Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son, who lives in Wigan and works in a meat-packing factory on a zero hours contract.<\/p>\n

 
\nSteven explains what his son — who was made redundant years ago and has struggled to find regular work since — is put through on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe doesn’t drive, so he has to wake up at half past 3 in the morning, walk three quarters of an hour to the other side of Wigan to catch a bus so he’s at the factory at 6,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Steven says.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe gets there and they say ‘Oh sorry, we should have rung you up, there’s no work today.’<\/p>\n

 
\nSteven, who has just now retired, calls his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s situation \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdisgraceful\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI would never want to start my working career now in this day and age,” Steven adds.<\/p>\n

 
\nImpossible to live<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nBut John, a caterer, has no other option \u00e2\u20ac\u201c working in Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s day and age of insecure work and poverty pay is his only choice.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how much money you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to earn,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told BBC Radio 5 this morning. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou see your rota for the week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 30 hours and you think, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Yeah I can get by on that.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd then you end up getting only 25 hours after you get quarter hours, half hours lopped off here and there.
\nJohn explains just how impossible it is to live on a zero hours contract.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t budget to pay your bills up all the way to the next month,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say to the local authority, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only going to be able to pay you 90 of the 105 pound of council tax because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost a few hours at work.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not interested.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nLinda*, a council worker on a zero hours contract, explains how even the simplest choices become unbearable while living in the nightmarish limbo of irregular hours.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy oven blew up yesterday and I had to think long and hard about buying a new one,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said, not knowing whether next month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earnings would be enough to cover her basic expenses.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite general secretary Len McCluskey condemned the suffering that so many millions of workers are put through under such exploitative work arrangements.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bZero hours contracts mean misery for workers and their families, stuck on this hand-to-mouth existence, not knowing from one week to next whether there’ll be any work , let alone enough to cover the bills,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis insecurity has exploded on David Cameron’s watch where from social care to high street big names we have an economy built on shaky jobs and chronic low pay,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is not an economic plan to be proud of but economic pain to be ashamed of.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nStill, McCluskey argued that today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s news of Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clampdown on zero hours contracts meant that, on the eve of a general election, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still hope.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour is absolutely right to take action against insecure work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMillions of families just getting by will at last see someone on their side, and a Labour Party determined to build an economy where we can all reap the rewards.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n*Name has been changed to protect identity<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine being a single parent struggling on benefits. You look long and hard for some sort of stable job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c anything that will pay the bills and feed your child. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finally hired. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on a zero hours contract, but no matter. At least it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something.   Kelly, this young woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father, recalls how overjoyed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[224,210,251],"wps_subtitle":"Epidemic of zero hours pain must end ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538\/revisions\/3540"}],"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=3538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}