Hundreds of thousands of British workers are on zero-hours contracts despite being with the same employer for years, according to analysis from the TUC.
The majority of zero-hours contract workers have been with their employer for more than 12 months, while one in eight have not been granted regular employment rights after more than a decade working in the same place, the organisation said.
More than a million people are working on a zero-hours contract basis, and the TUC said a clear majority of them, about 720,000 workers, have been with their current employer for over a year, based on ONS labour force data.
About 130,000 people were still retained on zero-hours contracts after 10 years with the same employer, it found.
The analysis was published as union leaders said that insecure work was holding back economic growth, and in the face of Conservative attacks on the government’s employment rights bill.
The bill, introduced to parliament in October but not expected to become law until at least 2026, includes provisions to give zero-hours workers the right to a guaranteed contract if they are employed to work the same hours for an extended period.
TUC polling has found that only one in seven zero-hours contract workers say they are happy not to have regular working hours.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, attacked the government last week at prime minister’s questions, accusing Keir Starmer of bringing in a bill that would increase costs to businesses and deter hiring, spelling “higher prices, fewer jobs and less growth”.
However, the TUC said that an “insecure work epidemic” was holding back workers and the economy, and that stronger rights would enhance the labour market, raise productivity and boost demand.
The average zero-hours contract worker earns about a third less, at about £10.68 an hour, than the median hourly rate of £15.69, according to its analysis.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “Zero-hours contracts give bosses almost total control of workers’ earning power and hours – making it a nightmare for families to plan budgets and childcare.
“After 14 years of Conservative decline, the era of low-rights, low-pay and low-productivity has been tested to destruction. Those defending the broken status quo are putting their own vested interests ahead of working people’s lives and ignoring the evidence in front of their eyes.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Our employment rights bill will end exploitative zero-hours contracts by giving workers a right to guaranteed hours, new rights to reasonable notice of shift, and payment for shifts that are cancelled or moved at short notice.
“We are committed to ending one-sided flexibility to ensure workers have more predictability to better plan their lives and finances.”
The employment rights bill will also bring: reforms including an immediate right to paternity leave and protection from unfair dismissal for new hires; sick pay from the first day of sick leave; and an end to “fire-and-rehire”, where firms have sacked employees and brought them back on inferior terms and conditions.
Article by:Source: Gwyn Topham
