Zero Hour contracts

[Jan Klimkowski]

So, one million Brits are on zero hours contracts, and the politicians bang on about the "need for a flexible labour market".

Zero hours contracts - a capitalist wet dream here to stain......

Zero-hours contracts could be subject to new legislation, says Vince Cable

Business secretary says employer exclusivity is main issue for review, as figures show one million are on zero-hours deals

Patrick Wintour, political editor
theguardian.com, Monday 5 August 2013 14.32 BST
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Link to video: Vince Cable: government to review zero-hours contracts

Vince Cable has said the government could legislate on zero-hours contracts, but ruled out a ban.

The business secretary, who has been leading a review on the issue for the government since June, said he might look at changing the rules for workers who were allowed to work for only one employer.

"Where it is a problem is … where there is an exclusive relationship with a particular employer who actually cannot provide stable employment, or indeed any employment that stops the worker going to another company," he said.

"If we were to narrow it down to the exclusivity issue, and established whether it is a legal problem and how widespread it is, but I'm holding open the possibility that next month when we come to the decision then we could move forward with recommendations to consult on legislation, but we haven't got to that point yet."

Cable currently has three people in his department looking at the issue and will decide in September whether to hold a formal consultation on specific proposals. No 10 denied that the government was not acting with sufficient urgency.

A report (pdf) by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claims one million workers are on zero-hours contracts far more than the 250,000 official estimate from the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS admits there may be problems with its survey, and intends to produce a new one based on different questioning techniques next spring and summer.

Labour said it would hold a summit on zero-hours this week to look at the scale of abuse. Chuka Umanna, the shadow business secretary, has said zero-hours contracts should be the exception and not the rule, a formula that at one level means little since zero-hours contracts are already the exception in the UK economy.

The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, has called for them to be banned, something that would prove unpopular with employers and even some workers.

George Osborne welcomed the zero-hours review and pointed to the broader economic climate, saying: "We will make sure that [zero-hours] contracts are used in a proper way … but obviously the best solution for people who want to work more hours is to have a growing economy, and that's absolutely what we're setting about trying to achieve.

"What we want is a flexible labour market so people can get jobs, come out of unemployment and find work. Of course we do not want employment contracts abused."

He noted that the total number of hours worked in the economy had increased. "Let us see if there is a problem before we try to fix it," he said.

He also stressed that labour market flexibility was a way of respecting the rights of those not in work, adding that such people did not have people speaking up for them.