Zero hour contracts

[Benfleet A1]

I agree, it would make a nice change to have a link to the Sun, a girl with her tits out and the quote 'Sandra from Doncaster says though she sympathises with the workers at Sports Direct not knowing if they will have enough working hours to cover their rent at least they do Nike Airs in half sizes' or the Mail commentary column saying .'people not willing to sit by the phone all day waiting to see if they will be needed for a couple if hours being defended is political correctness gone mad'. Rather than the Guardian or BBC.

I personally haven't wasted my money on The Sun in about 20 years and like so with The Mail in about 6 months as I find the first complete bollocks and the second depressing bollocks. The Guardian isn't balanced reporting made worse by the fact that TUIB relentlessly links to it without reasoned comment or debate.

 

[Benfleet A1]

To be fair, you don't name the biggest culprit!

I didn't think I would have had to.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I didn't think I would have had to.

I think it's possible for those who don't see what the rest of us do!

 

[Rob Noxious]

Yes I know who Arthur Scargill was. His aim was to bring down the government and he failed dismally. and the same people run the country now and still have to sort out the mess created by the previous government, as they are doing now.

I didn't suggest that you didn't know who Arthur Scargill was - I pointed out that he didn't run the country in the seventies as you asserted and corrected you that he was the leader of the Yorkshire (Branch of the National Union of) Miners at this time. However, if his aim was "to bring down the government", then the defeat of the NUM (when Scargill was leader) in 1985 was undoubtedly up there with the Tories' greatest triumphs. One of the others (as Margaret Thatcher herself asserted) "was Tony Blair."

 

[dingleydangley]

I think it's possible for those who don't see what the rest of us do!

You can't KEEP blaming everything on Thatcher.

 

[OldBlueLady]

You can't KEEP blaming everything on Thatcher.

Think you have me wrong, I wouldn't blame Maggie for anything!!! :stunned:

 

[DTS]

Personally think they allow an employer to be flexible and deal with inflows of work.

They work well for students and Mums that want some extra money. A few of my wives friends work on zero hours contracts as bar staff at social functions and it works fine for them as they can earn some extra money when they are free. As Cyril has said loads of decent jobs still to be had on these contract types.

I don't think really work for people that need money constantly and but then with all due respects if you need to work at sports direct on a zero hours contract then I fear that whatever the government do its not going to help you much. Simple rule of life applies if you don't like it don't take it.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Not according to the very poll you linked to.

A Treasury spokesman said: “The government has published groundbreaking cumulative distributional analysis with every budget and autumn statement of this parliament. This has clearly shown that the richest households are making the biggest contribution to reducing the deficit.”

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls claimed that Labour planned to balance the books in a fairer way. He said: “This is a damning analysis of David Cameron and George Osborne’s record. It demolishes any last pretence that we are somehow all in this together.”

When exactly are Milliband, Balls and co [you know, the ones who dropped us in this mess in the first place]going to explain how they are going to make the UK a fairer, happy chappie utopia. Saying they have learned from past mistakes without actually saying sorry doesn't quite cut it with me.

You seem to be another of those Tory, (or ex-Tory voters in your case), who seem to have conveniently forgotten that there was a global ie worldwide crisis back in 2008.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Think you have me wrong, I wouldn't blame Maggie for anything!!! :stunned:

Think you'll finfd it was irony on DD's part.Kay.:smile:

 

[Pubey]

Personally think they allow an employer to be flexible and deal with inflows of work.

They work well for students and Mums that want some extra money. A few of my wives friends work on zero hours contracts as bar staff at social functions and it works fine for them as they can earn some extra money when they are free. As Cyril has said loads of decent jobs still to be had on these contract types.

I don't think really work for people that need money constantly and but then with all due respects if you need to work at sports direct on a zero hours contract then I fear that whatever the government do its not going to help you much. Simple rule of life applies if you don't like it don't take it.

Isn't one of the key ideas of a government that it's a social system helps people who need it? I feel like we've lost touch with that. Not just a welfare state, but also a system of social justice which protects people from exploitation.

What if the job at Sports Direct or some similar employer is all you have available? And then you're working 35 hours a week, 5 days a week, on less than a living wage and are suddenly acutely ill and have no income? That's a world away from wives bringing in a second income working the Catalina Wine Mixer.

I always find it a bit dubious to turn around to people and say 'yeah your situation is **** but if you don't like it then don't take it' - mainly because I doubt it's a situation that many on here experience. People are making the best of a bad situation and by essence of being on a zero hour contract, it's not that easy to be looking for alternative employment. Start taking time off for interviews or asking for a reference and you're out on your arse.

I get that they offer great flexibility in some situations (I was on a zero-hour contract as a student and it was great), and I understand why employers are in favour of them. However there are employers who are exploiting it and thousands of 'regular full time' staff are on zero-hour contracts without the rights that they should get, and with little alternative elsewhere, especially at the menial or basic customer-service level. Personally I think that employer rights should always come before business rights.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Zero hours contracts should be made illegal.If the Tories do it before the next election, that's fine with me.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23554409

Ridiculous idea.

Loads of people rely on the flexibility afforded by zero hour contracts to make work work for them.

You might have had a full grant as a student but I had to work. Zero hours contracts allowed me to fit work around my study.

What you are proposing is to deny further education to thousands of students and prevent single parents from working flexibly around childcare.

 

[DTS]

Isn't one of the key ideas of a government that it's a social system helps people who need it? I feel like we've lost touch with that. Not just a welfare state, but also a system of social justice which protects people from exploitation.

What if the job at Sports Direct or some similar employer is all you have available? And then you're working 35 hours a week, 5 days a week, on less than a living wage and are suddenly acutely ill and have no income? That's a world away from wives bringing in a second income working the Catalina Wine Mixer.

I always find it a bit dubious to turn around to people and say 'yeah your situation is **** but if you don't like it then don't take it' - mainly because I doubt it's a situation that many on here experience. People are making the best of a bad situation and by essence of being on a zero hour contract, it's not that easy to be looking for alternative employment. Start taking time off for interviews or asking for a reference and you're out on your arse.

I get that they offer great flexibility in some situations (I was on a zero-hour contract as a student and it was great), and I understand why employers are in favour of them. However there are employers who are exploiting it and thousands of 'regular full time' staff are on zero-hour contracts without the rights that they should get, and with little alternative elsewhere, especially at the menial or basic customer-service level. Personally I think that employer rights should always come before business rights.

For my mind the state is there to help people that fall on hard times. Happy to support people on the road to recovery from health issues or people that have worked and allow them to buy time find new work. Happy to support the disabled and elderly that have paid into the state.

However I think it's natural selection that some do better than others. It's easy to blame others or look to the state with a begging bowl. Fail to see how it's exploring people - would argue it's better an employer offer some work knowing sits a flexible arrangement than no work as they cannot commit long term. It works well for certain people in certain circumstances.

Never had that situation for a reason. Easy to blame everything around you rather than look at the root cause. Sorry that sounds harsh and middle class but as someone that was brought up for a lot of my childhood in inner City Leicester in a school that was closed down by ofsted the year after I left I can tell you the difference between the kids that did well and the kids that didn't was those that wanted it.

For my mind You are where you are in life (largely but not true of everyone I appreciate) due you how hard you work. 90% of success is attitude. We got friendly with a Welsh couple on holiday a few years ago. One night we were talking and he told me he started on a zero hours contract in the quarries. He worked hard, got a perm contract and is now a foreman. Absolute top lad, had 110% respect for me. Had it not been for that contract he might never have got the chance.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Ridiculous idea.

Loads of people rely on the flexibility afforded by zero hour contracts to make work work for them.

You might have had a full grant as a student but I had to work. Zero hours contracts allowed me to fit work around my study.

What you are proposing is to deny further education to thousands of students and prevent single parents from working flexibly around childcare.

I had a full grant as an undergraduate because my mother was a widow with three children. I worked every Xmas and summer vacation to make extra money.

I received a full grant while doing my PGCE, as I'd been employed for three years before that.I also worked in vacations and on alternate weekends during that time.

What I'm proposing is an end to a system which exploits young workers in particular and favours employers to the detriment of employees.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-23573442

 

[steveo]

What I'm proposing is an end to a system which exploits young workers in particular and favours employers to the detriment of employees.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-23573442

Barna, this thread has run to 4 pages and we have heard form 2 people who have or have had experience of zero hour contract, both of who said they were a good thing. Do you think you could possibly be wrong?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Barna, this thread has run to 4 pages and we have heard form 2 people who have or have had experience of zero hour contract, both of who said they were a good thing. Do you think you could possibly be wrong?

Not about this.Miliband will win a lot of support for his stand against zero hour contracts in the next six months.Watch this space.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Barna, this thread has run to 4 pages and we have heard form 2 people who have or have had experience of zero hour contract, both of who said they were a good thing. Do you think you could possibly be wrong?

Might be a more realist poll to ask some if the 20,000 at Sports Direct rather than the two on here.

its another case where regulation shouldn't be necessary but big buisness' failure to self regulate creates more red tape.

 

[MK Shrimper]

They're **** - my stepson had the "pleasure" of working for Sports Direct where he was called into work (paying a bus fare) only to be told he's not required when he turned up. He now works for another employer who treats him with respect and doesn't treat him like a spare part of a machine, and hence he's now looking to move out and get his own place.

They should be outlawed with immediate effect.

 

[KAB]

I often come into contact, through work, with zero hour contract workers and other than the odd person who likes the lack of commitment and/or works in an area that pays well, most are living under a cloud of insecurity which ultimately brings its own stresses that envelope all, like the ripples in a pond. Low pay, no security, no sick pay, no holiday pay. Welcome to Victorian Britain and believe me, I know of companies in the caring sector that are making a very tidy profit whilst paying their workers as little as possible on zero hours and they're potentially involved in the care of ageing parents of people on this forum. Nothing wrong with making a profit but do so with a conscience.

 

[steveo]

They're **** - my stepson had the "pleasure" of working for Sports Direct where he was called into work (paying a bus fare) only to be told he's not required when he turned up. He now works for another employer who treats him with respect and doesn't treat him like a spare part of a machine, and hence he's now looking to move out and get his own place.

They should be outlawed with immediate effect.

This is good news though MK. It has obviously steered him away from people like Sports Direct and as more and more people take the same path sports Direct will have to get their act together or won't find anyone to work for them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Sport Direct are a decent employer and he should certainly have been told he was not required before he started his journey, but Zero hour contracts work for some people and they are not all based on minimum wage so outlawing them would not necessarily benefit everyone.

 

[MK Shrimper]

This is good news though MK. It has obviously steered him away from people like Sports Direct and as more and more people take the same path sports Direct will have to get their act together or won't find anyone to work for them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Sport Direct are a decent employer and he should certainly have been told he was not required before he started his journey, but Zero hour contracts work for some people and they are not all based on minimum wage so outlawing them would not necessarily benefit everyone.

Trouble is there's just too much anecdotal evidence on both sides in this thread.