George Dawes wrote:... Parliament was on TV before, showing Jeremy Corbyn, a former Brexiter(but now remain party policy) Attacking Cameron and the Tory party about these zero hour contracts.
it all depends who were to lead after a Brexit, I think the Tory's would still shaft working class, where as Labour I would like to think they would back unions up and workers rights, like they were known for.
On the subject of zero hours contracts, and off EU for a moment, I'm pretty certain I've said this before, but in and of themselves, zero hours contracts aren't necessarily that bad. Surveys tend to show many, I think over half of, people on them are quite happy, usually because it allows them flexibility. What I agree is needed is more protection for those on zero hours, so that it isn't as heavily waited in favour of the employer. The worst thing, which I'm not sure if it's already been addressed, is preventing people taking other employment. You can't refuse to guarantee someone work and at the same time prevent them getting work elsewhere.
As a freelancer, Mrs A effectively has several zero hours contracts, the work she does coming primarily from three of them. They all know about the others, and it's all within the terms of the contracts. She's able to take the work she wants, but if a job's too far away or doesn't pay enough for the work involved, she can turn it down. If all zero hours contracts worked that way, it would be fine, but unfortunately due to the nature of the work many of them are applied to, it doesn't happen.
I would argue that if someone on a zero hours contract is consistently doing a 35-hour week or more over a period of, say 3-4 months, then a permanent contract should be forthcoming, unless it is is an expressly seasonal industry, where it is known in advance by the employee that once the 'season' is over, the work will no longer be available, or the volumes will dramatically reduce. If things are expressed like that in advance, and agreed by both parties, and at the end of the 'season' the employee is free to work elsewhere, again there should be no issue, in my opinion. I know I'm by no means capturing every eventuality here, but I am trying to expose this myth that all zero hours contracts are evil and detrimental to the employee, although I do agree that they tend to be weighted in the employer's favour.