{"id":8083,"date":"2016-03-11T11:55:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T11:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8083"},"modified":"2016-03-11T16:08:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T16:08:47","slug":"a-bosss-flexible-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8083","title":{"rendered":"A boss’s ‘flexible friend’?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The number of people whose main job is on a zero hours contract may well soar to 1m by the end of the year if current trends continue, according to the latest figures released\u00c2\u00a0on Wednesday\u00c2\u00a0(March 9).<\/p>\n

 
\nEven as the government has crowed about falling unemployment, the number of workers on contracts with no guaranteed minimum hours have skyrocketed year on year, leaping by more than 100,000 to 801,000 last year.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe total number of these insecure contracts – which empower employers to circumvent making pensions contributions and offering sick and holiday pay enjoyed by regular employees and agency workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has reached a peak of 1.7m.<\/p>\n

 
\nThis suggests that many workers are relying on more than one zero hours contract job just to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

 
\nProponents of zero hours contracts have long said that they offer \u00e2\u20ac\u015bflexibility\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, but research has shown that many workers are unhappy with their current arrangements \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nearly 40 per cent of workers on zero hours contracts want to be offered more work, compared to only 10 per cent of other workers.<\/p>\n

 
\nOne in six had received no work in the week that they had been interviewed.<\/p>\n

 
\nZero hours contracts first appeared on the scene when the recession hit, and some experts predicted that they would become less common once the economy picked up again.<\/p>\n

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Permanent feature?<\/strong> <\/em>
\nBut the latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the contracts may in fact become a permanent feature of an economy dominated by insecure work.<\/p>\n

 
\nThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve become particularly dense among groups of people who are already often exploited in work.
\nNearly 40 per cent of the contracts are held by young people aged 16 to 24. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re disproportionately given to women, as well as to workers in sectors such as hospitality, food services and social work, where pay is low and bargaining power is weak.<\/p>\n

 
\nPay for those on zero hours contracts is dismal compared to those on permanent contracts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c according to TUC research, the average weekly earnings for zero-hours workers was only \u00c2\u0141188, while for permanent workers this figure quadrupled to \u00c2\u0141479.<\/p>\n

 
\nNearly 40 per cent of zero-hours workers earn less than \u00c2\u0141111 a week, the minimum threshold for statutory sick pay.<\/p>\n

 
\nZero-hours contracts are the working arrangement of choice among large employers known for their exploitative work practices.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe vast majority of workers employed by Sports Direct, which has come under fire for abusive practices, are on zero-hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn fact, the sports retail giant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boss Mike Ashley has been threatened with contempt of Parliament for failing to appear before MPs to answer questions about the way his company treats its workers.<\/p>\n

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At bosses’ mercy<\/strong><\/em>
\nTUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady argued that zero hours contracts put all the power in the hands of bosses, whose workers are at their mercy.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bZero-hour contracts may be a dream for cost-cutting employers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut they can be a nightmare for workers.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany people on zero-hours contracts are unable to plan for their future and regularly struggle with paying bills and having a decent family life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098flexibility\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 these contracts offer is far too one-sided. Staff without guaranteed pay have much less power to stand up for their rights and often feel afraid to turn down shifts in case they fall out of favour with their boss.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe European Union is proposing better rights for zero-hours workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c another reason why workers should be worried about the risks of Brexit,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe government has noted that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve regulated zero-hours contracts by banning \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexclusivity clauses\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 last year, which meant that employers could no longer hinder zero-hours workers from working for other employers.<\/p>\n

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New Zealand says no<\/strong> <\/em>
\nBut in New Zealand, the government has just moved to approve legislation this week (March 7) that will ban zero-hours contracts in their entirety.<\/p>\n

 
\nA Labour amendment to the Employment Standards Bill there will mean that from April 1, employers must guarantee a minimum number of hours each week, and workers can refuse to take on extra hours without being penalised.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite assistant general secretary Steve Turner slammed the UK government for presiding over an economy that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s created an increasingly insecure workforce desperate to feed their families.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnder this government the world of work is becoming less secure with increasing numbers of people trying to eke out a living not knowing one day to the next if they have work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFar from being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098flexible\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 choice for workers, zero hours contracts put all the power in the hands of the employer and are increasingly becoming the only form of work open to young people.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis \u00e2\u20ac\u0098treat them mean, keep them keen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 form of employment leaves people at the whim of their employer and unable to plan for the future, rent a home or get a mortgage.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEveryone deserves decent work and the dignity and security of knowing how much they will earn from one week to the next,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis government has repeatedly crowed about the falls in unemployment, but what it never mentions is the type of precarious, insecure work and falling wages it has overseen.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to tackle the growing crisis of insecure employment by following the lead of governments like New Zealand in banning zero hours contracts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

The number of people whose main job is on a zero hours contract may well soar to 1m by the end of the year if current trends continue, according to the latest figures released\u00c2\u00a0on Wednesday\u00c2\u00a0(March 9).   Even as the government has crowed about falling unemployment, the number of workers on contracts with no guaranteed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[340,251],"wps_subtitle":"Zero hours main job workers could top 1m ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8083"}],"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=8083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8089,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8083\/revisions\/8089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}