'Nightmare for workers, dream for bad bosses'

Nearly two million workers live each day in limbo, not knowing whether they’ll have work when they wake up in the morning – and so not knowing whether they’ll be able to make ends meet.

These workers on zero-hours contracts – disproportionately women, and disproportionately BAEM – were given a ray of hope when Labour pledged to act and stop this form of insecure work.

Unite women are now pressing the government to commit to an all-out ban on all zero-hour contracts after putting forward a motion at Labour’s Women’s Conference on Saturday (September 21).

The motion, part of a composite, highlighted that zero-hours contracts “hand total control over earning power to managers, making it impossible for workers to plan their budgets and their wider lives”.

The motion noted that women make up a majority of workers on zero-hours contracts, and that nearly 6 per cent of BAEM workers are on zero-hours contracts, compared to less than 3 per cent of white men.

It called the contracts a “nightmare for workers and a dream for bad bosses and without legislative protection, insecure workers will not feel empowered to challenge their employer, especially as these workplaces will be those without union recognition”.

Indeed, Unite has spoken to many members who are living this zero-hours nightmare, and their testimony shows that there is no such thing as a fair zero-hours contract.

Unite member Saima from Glasgow explained how in her experience, “zero-hours contracts allow low-level management to abuse their power and inflict financial insecurity onto their young employees, mostly young women”.

She recounted how her colleagues were inexplicably removed from rotas after they refused to engage in inappropriate conversations with their male managers. Saima added that the contracts allow management “to act on childish feuds or punish those who don’t return their ‘romantic’ feelings.”

Meanwhile, Unite member Jen from Glasgow highlighted the anxiety of not knowing whether she’ll be able to make her rent from week to week.

“Some weeks you can be expected to work over 40 hours without adequate rest between shifts, with shifts being extended to meet business needs at short notice, but then when the business doesn’t need you, you are expected to drop down to the bare minimum hours, regardless of whether this will cover your rent or not,” she said.

“To not know week to week if you will be able to afford essentials like food, rent and bills, or if you will be worked to burnout is hard,” Jen added.

Even if you can afford essentials like housing, being on a zero-hours contract can impact your access to them in the first place, Jen noted.

“Real estate agents and loan companies automatically judge, question or reject applicants working zero-hour contracts because there would be no guarantee we would be able to pay rent or car payments on time. I had to fight with them to have applications approved.”

Like Jen, Unite member Megan was employed on a zero-hours contract, despite regularly working gruelling hours – in her case, as many as 70 hours a week.

“This was a joke, as all of the ‘flexibility’ was in the hands of my boss,” she explained. “When I experienced a family bereavement and tried to get time off for the funeral, I didn’t get any paid time off to attend – I was just taken off the rota.”

These harrowing stories are just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting the endless misery that zero-hours contracts have inflicted, especially on women. The Unite Labour Women’s conference composite, which was unanimously carried, called on the Labour government to make good on its promises and “ban all zero-hours contracts in order to progress towards ending the one-sided flexibility that only benefits employers”.

Unite national women’s officer Alison Spencer-Scragg hailed the motion and its passing.

Commenting, she said, “Yes, some workers want more flexibility given the many challenges facing women in particular, but the idea that workers would choose this one-sided contract, putting all the power in the hands of an employer, is a myth.”

Find out more about Labour’s Women’s Conference here.

By Hajera Blagg