Emeritus Prof Christopher May

Less than five months ago, the post below appeared on a Labour Party feed.... but now (presumably under pressure from employers), the Party has decided to 'reform' zero hours contracts instead.

While one can hope zero hours contracts will be constrained this is not the same as 'banning' them - whatever you may think of the reasoning for retaining some from of ZHCs, this is yet one more gift to the Greens in the Gorton & Denton by-election.

#politics #Greens #workers #ZeroHoursContracts

Feb 4 at 6:48pmWeb
Show threadbeemohFeb 4

@ChrisMayLA6 *and* the alleged 'ban' was nothing of the sort- what they were suggesting was only to ban 'exploitative' ZHCs, which is easily dodged by just defining all ZHCs as 'not exploitative', and if that's too vague, it was also going to allow such where the worker accepts the 'flexibility' of a ZHC, at which point it's very clear that any potential employee who didn't accept said flexability would suddenly find the role was no longer available.

Basically, any suggestion that Labour are going to do anything about ZHCs is a lie today, it was a lie when they first pitched it, and it's been a lie all the time in between.

Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 4

@beemoh

Yes, sadly this is the conclusion that one ends up coming to... sad, but hardly surprising as regards the current Labour Party

Show threadDonald RoyFeb 4

@ChrisMayLA6

Presumably reformed zero hour contacts would not be regarded as 'exploitative'!

Show threadDan HattonFeb 4

@ChrisMayLA6

I remember thinking when that post first appeared that the adjective "exploitative" carried the implication "not all".

Show threadKim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷Feb 4
@ChrisMayLA6
To be fair, I have long argued against a total ban on ZH contracts; there are some people — artists or authors, for example — for whom they work really well.
Some creative reform would be far better… (e.g. ZHCs must be paid at significantly higher rates per hour than FT employees, ZH employees may not be penalised for refusing a shift, paid time off, etc)
With this shower of a Government, I won’t hold my breath!
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 4

@KimSJ

Yes, but I guess I'd like to see some new (clearly delimited) form of contract for those incidences

Show threadbeemohFeb 4

@ChrisMayLA6 @KimSJ Would that not be 'piece work'?

https://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work/paid-per-task-or-piece-of-work-done

Minimum wage for different types of work

Minimum wage rates for different types of paid employment - time work, output work, unmeasured work, salaried hours work.

GOV.UK
Show threadPeter BrownFeb 4
@ChrisMayLA6 It’s the law of unintended consequences. If you ban zero hours contracts most of those jobs will become self-employed. Better to be zero hours on an employment contract than to be self-employed.
All would be solved by #ubi
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 4

@peterbrown

Indeed, one way through this would be introducing UBI, that would be a major political step.

Show threadHighlandLawyerFeb 4
@ChrisMayLA6 @peterbrown
These jobs currently combine all the downsides of employment, with all the detriments of self-employment, & none of the benefits of either, so I'd argue actual self employment would be better (plus the benefits office would no longer be able to force people to take them).