Monday 5 August 2013

Wanted - a minimum hours guarantee

It's not just zero-hours contracts which are being abused in theses times of austerity and business retrenchment - it's also self-employment contracts for workers who should be employees, as Calton has already pointed out. Both types of contract can offer workers flexibility and can be appropriate but, all too often, workers are not being given any choice in the matter. If they refuse to accept what's on the table they know that someone else will. Many people on these types of contracts are low paid - the last thing they need is uncertainty about the number of hours they will get each week. Self-employment contracts offer no job security at all as they can usually be terminated without notice. Employees have, for some time now, accepted that the days of big annual pay rises are over. Some have even accepted pay cuts in order to keep their jobs. The least employers can do is give them some sort of minimum hours guarantee and there should be a crack-down on those employers who are using self-employment contracts in order to get out of having to comply with employment legislation.

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