How employers abuse zero-hours contract workers
Zero-hours contracts can in fact be beneficial to certain employees – such as older people who have made most of the money they need but want a little extra; being at an employer’s convenience won’t harm their standard of living in the long run.
That can’t be said of young people who are dependent on the wages they earn for their survival – especially in cut-throat Tory and Tory Democrat Britain, where benefits are routinely denied to those who need them.
The employer on this BBC programme is quite clearly misrepresenting zero-hours contracts and the BBC should (yet again) be ashamed of its own lack of balance.
I am totally against ZHCs and support your criticisms. I don’t think the point about some people liking them is truly valid. People in certain circumstances may be ok with them, but would probably be ok with all sorts of alternative types of contract.
[…] Originally posted on The SKWAWKBOX Blog: Recently I’ve had a few people commenting to me that zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) are not malignant… […]
Last year I took a zero hour contract with the NHS as I couldn’t find any full time work, but it worked out fine as I routinely got a shift every day. That was until I had an altercation with my supervisor over the way she spoke to me. The month after the argument my hours had been cut in half (as she was responsible for scheduling staff), the month after that I had 5 shifts, after that, nothing. I was forced to get another job and luckily I did, as I was still technically employed by the NHS, I wouldn’t have been able to sign on due to the rules about voluntarily leaving work. In my last few shifts I heard about changes they were bringing in regarding hours worked, under the current system you would get paid for a full shift (4 hours) regardless of how long it took to complete the round, sometimes you would be early and sometimes late but it generally evened out. They have now changed it so that you only get paid for the hours you work, so now supervisors can over-staff the rounds, benefiting them as the round is done quicker, with no financial penalty. Temp staff would have to turn up for a shift where they could potentially work for 1 hour and then be sent home.
Hello Jemma…
I am concerned too about the abuse of ZHC’s where people are bullied and therefore hours reduced etc as in your situation. My wife was a victim of bullying when she worked as a Room Attendant in a local hotel. She eventually left and is now unable to work due to the trauma suffered at her previous workplace. Thanks for sharing your story.