Union calls for ban on ‘precarious’ zero-hour contracts

A trade union is calling for a ban on zero-hour contracts as workers are often “stuck” with insecure and low-pay jobs.

The call for the ban comes after figures from Labour’s Market Overview’s latest 2024 report estimate the levels of employment across the UK.

The Trade Union Congress said employers are “parking workers on zero-hour contracts for years on end”, as figures show two in three zero-hour workers have been with their current employer for over a year, with one in eight having been with them for over a decade.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:

“Bad employers are parking workers on zero-hours contracts for years on end. It’s not right. These precarious contracts hand almost total control over workers’ hours and earning power to managers – making it nigh on impossible to plan budgets and childcare.”

According to the figures, there are 1.15 million people on these contracts, but black and minority ethnic women are nearly three times as likely to be on zero-hours contracts as white men.

Meanwhile, the TUC analysis published in August revealed the number of BME workers in insecure work more than doubled from 2011 to 2022 (from 360,200 to 836,300), but figures also show that almost half of these workers took zero-hours contract work is because that is the only work available

“Everyone should be treated fairly at work. But too many workers – especially Black and ethnic minority women – are trapped in low-paid jobs on zero-hours contracts, with few rights and protections and no guarantee of shifts,” Mr. Nowak added.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said:

“Zero-hour contracts offer flexibility for people who may need to balance work around personal commitments whilst helping employers with less demand for permanent staff.”

“We continue to tackle unfair working practices through the Workers Act, giving workers the right to make a request to their employer for a more predictable working pattern, and boosting the National Living Wage for millions of workers to £11.44 an hour.”

Fire and rehire

The call comes as the government announced plans this week to crack down on ‘fire and rehire’ practices.

The government has said it firmly opposes fire and rehire being used as a negotiating tactic and has published a new draft statutory code of practice making clear how employers must behave in this area.

Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said:

“Our new code will crack down on employers mistreating employees and sets out how they should behave when changing an employee’s contract.

“This announcement shows we are taking action to tackle fire and re-hire practices by balancing protections for workers with business flexibility”.

Further reading

Employment terms and conditions and breach of contract – Oakwood Solicitors

WHAT TO DO NEXT

Get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation. Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9720 to find out how we can help you.