{"id":4297,"date":"2015-05-27T15:50:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T14:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4297"},"modified":"2015-05-27T15:50:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T14:50:48","slug":"tory-toothless-hours-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4297","title":{"rendered":"Tory \u00e2\u20ac\u0098toothless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hours law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A key coalition government measure came into force on Tuesday (May 26) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the banning of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 
\nNow, employers cannot block workers who are on the contracts, which guarantee no minimum hours, from seeking work elsewhere.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a measure that prime minister David Cameron hailed during his election campaign, saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpeople are employed, they are not used. Those exclusive zero-hours contracts that left people unable to build decent lives for themselves \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we will scrap them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBut now that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re officially scrapped, experts in employment law have argued that the legislation is unenforceable and will make little difference to millions of people on zero hours contracts now struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

 
\nEmployment lawyer Elizabeth George, who represents zero-hours workers in a case against Sports Direct, told the Guardian <\/a>that the legislation is \u00e2\u20ac\u015butterly toothless\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis piece of legislation says that employers can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enforce these [exclusivity] clauses in a zero-hours contract,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut if they operate a policy of reducing or not offering hours to those who have worked elsewhere there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no right for workers to do anything about it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nKirsty Ayre, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, explained another potential loophole in banning exclusivity clauses.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEmployers can still include clauses requiring workers on such contracts to be available for work if required, which may have a similar impact to an exclusivity clause,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nTip of the iceberg<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nUnite assistant general secretary Steve Turner argued that only banning exclusivity clauses completely misses all the other ways in which zero-hours contracts are exploitative and contribute to a plummeting race to the bottom in the labour market.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBanning exclusivity clauses is a joke,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt misses the key point that zero hours confer fear and misery of those forced into them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no security, no protection and little dignity.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith millions now declared ‘self-employed’, under-employed and insecure at work, we believe that the scale of workplace insecurity is vastly underestimated by the Tory government and needs to be addressed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen business fails to create decent jobs, there are serious and deep social and economic consequences for our country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nA Cambridge University<\/a> study highlights the increasingly insecure nature of work that Turner refers to, and demonstrates how shift work in all its varieties has added significantly to workplace stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Cambridge researchers interviewed workers on insecure contracts at two major supermarket chains, one in the US and one in the UK, in addition to months of shop-floor observation.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe researchers called zero-hours contracts only the \u00e2\u20ac\u015btip of the iceberg\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of insecure work arrangements, with co-author of the report Dr Brendan Burchell arguing that so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworkplace flexibility\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 has many manifestations.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorkplace flexibility is thought of as helping employees, but it has become completely subverted across much of the service sector to suit the employer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and huge numbers of workers are suffering as a consequence,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMight as well stay on dole\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098flexi-contracts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, whether that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s zero, eight or 10 hours \u00e2\u20ac\u201c none of which can provide a living \u00e2\u20ac\u201c allow low-level management unaccountable power to dictate workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hours and consequent income to a damaging extent that is open to incompetency and abuse,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burchell added.<\/p>\n

 
\nBeyond contributing to workplace stress, anxiety and depression, and being blocked from earning more, the Cambridge study found flexible contracts meant workers were losing out on key access to education and training programmes that might help them find better jobs.<\/p>\n

 
\nOne of the UK supermarket workers Burchell and his colleagues interviewed was a man on a flexi-contract, which guaranteed only three hours of work a week.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNobody can possibly survive on three and a half hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay a week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the worker said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd then it boils down to you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got your three and a half hours plus you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got flexed-time which they will give you if they need you.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut once your face doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get any more hours and you might as well stay on the dole really.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCorporate welfare<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nTurner argued that the government should be looking into why so many people were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfacing desperate times at work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, adding that it must also force employers to pay decent wages for guaranteed hours rather than \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexploiting corporate welfare as a way of subsidising exploitation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nIt was a point made in the Spectator last month<\/a>, which outlined just how much bosses stand to gain from employing growing legions of zero-hours and other insecure workers.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot only does an employer enjoy far lower bills for holiday and sick pay entitlements, as well as pension contributions, for zero hours and part-time employers, they enjoy other benefits too,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the Spectator noted.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe employer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Insurance contribution liability doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kick in until an employee earns \u00c2\u0141156 or more per week, so many companies now ensure they limit employees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hours to below that threshold. When extra hours are available, instead of offering more hours to existing part-time staff, some of whom are desperate for full-time work, these companies simply hire more zero-hours or part-time staff.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nTurner condemned yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u015btoken measures\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 taken by the government to combat work insecurity, which, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdo little to address the misery of hand-to-mouth, wait by the phone jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nNorman Pickavance former HR manager for Morrison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been an outspoken critic of zero-hours contracts, contends that weak legislation <\/a>like the exclusivity clauses ban will only serve to further embolden employers who are eager to cut costs and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bgo further down the zero-hours route.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, zero-hours contracts are ultimately bad for the economy in the long-term. As Pickavance points out, when low-wage, insecure jobs dominate the labour market, productivity suffers.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAn economic environment that fosters insecure, low wage, low skill jobs, and fails to back innovation and investment in skills will only ever deliver anaemic economic performance.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

A key coalition government measure came into force on Tuesday (May 26) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the banning of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.   Now, employers cannot block workers who are on the contracts, which guarantee no minimum hours, from seeking work elsewhere.   It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a measure that prime minister David Cameron hailed during his election […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[44,251],"wps_subtitle":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Unenforceable\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 law will make no difference ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297"}],"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=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4298,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions\/4298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}