A new report from Citizens Advice Scotland has claimed that zero hour contracts are leaving thousands of working Scots on the brink of poverty. Citizens Advice Bureaux’s have reported concerns over the legal protection workers on these contracts have from poor employment practices. This includes workers finding their hours suddenly cut in an attempt to make them resign.
These contracts in a lot of cases aren’t being used to offer flexibility to the employer or the employee. Instead they are the only employment option available to those wanting to work. If we are to fully tackle issues of poverty and exploitation in Fife and beyond then we must ensure that we don’t just condemn them but act on the misuse of zero hour contracts.
According to the Office of National Statistics there are around 1.4 million employees with zero hour contracts. Many of these workers are more likely to be female, either under 25 or over 65, and more likely to want to work more hours than they currently do.
Many companies, often large organisations who regularly post profits such as McDonalds, Burger King and JD Wetherspoon, have staff on zero-hours when full or part-time contracts could be issued. This leads to workers having to live week by week as they don’t know what hours and thus what wages they will be able to bring home, making it incredibly difficult for families to plan paying their bills and buy food for their home.
As a result of this we are seeing people being forced to resort to payday lenders, often high street chains with extortionate interest rates, and having to use food banks to make ends meet.
Recommendations from Citizens Advice Scotland include giving workers a statutory ‘right to request’ a contract that guarantees hours, without fear of dismissal. CAS also recommends vacancies for zero hour contracts should be advertised as such and that those who receive Universal Credit should not be sanctioned if the zero hour contract doesn’t meet their needs.
It’s important that the CAS’s recommendations are given due consideration by both the UK and Scottish Governments.