TUC – new Work Foundation reports “lays bare” harsh reality of zero-hours contracts
Commenting on new research published by the Work Foundation today (Thursday), which shows that the vast majority of people on zero-hours contracts face “contractual and financial insecurity and a lack of access to rights and protections”, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“Zero-hours contracts may be a dream for bad bosses. But they can be nightmare for the people on them.
“This report lays bare the huge financial insecurity workers on zero-hours contracts face.
“These one-sided contracts hand almost total control over hours and earning power to managers – making it nigh on impossible for workers to plan budgets and childcare.
“I would challenge any business leader or politician to try and survive on a zero-hours contract – not knowing how much money you’ll have from one week to the next.
“That’s why Labour’s New Deal for Working People is so long overdue.
“It will ban this exploitative working practice. And it will ensure that every worker has a right to a contract that reflects their regular hours of work along with reasonable notice of shifts”.
TUC analysis published last month revealed that most zero-hours contracts workers are stuck on them for over a year:
- 2 in 3 (66%) zero-hours contract workers have been with their current employer for over a year.
- Almost half (46%) of zero-hours contract workers have been with their current employer for over 2 years.
- Astonishingly, 1 in 8 (12%) zero-hours contract workers have been with their current employer for over 10 years.
Previous TUC research also shows that Black and minority ethnic (BME) women are now nearly three times as likely to be on zero-hours contracts as white men.
