ZERO-hours contracts are a scourge of the 21st century.
It’s almost like employment laws missed most of what happened in the last century and just kept on going with the Victorian workhouse.
Whether it be in budget retailers and fast-food outlets or in Scotland’s universities, zero-hours contracts are always for the benefit of the employer and never the benefit of the employee.
Our investigation into Scotland’s seats of learning shows junior academics having to work a number of short-term contracts simultaneously to earn enough money. This practice put workers in a horrible position. You need to work your behind off when you do have a shift so that you can maybe get another one.
Taking a day off for sickness, or holiday or compassionate leave, means, generally not getting paid. And if you ever say no to the offer of extra hours, then there’s nothing to stop your boss easing you out the office.
Often the employer, as the industry body Universities Scotland said in our piece, will say these contracts offer employees flexibility.
And they do, they just tend offer the employer far more flexibility.
The danger at our universities is that we end up with academics who can afford it. When there is such consensus on attainment at all levels of the Scottish education system, it seems odd to leave academia and postgraduate studying and teaching to the preserve of those who don’t need to worry about an income.
As the trade union representative points out, though teachers at universities paid for their teaching time, this does not take into consideration time spent on lesson preparation and marking.
Last month, New Zealand’s parliament unanimously passed a bill banning zero-hours contracts. Employers there must guarantee a minimum number of hours work each week. If employers go back on their word to end zero-hours contracts then maybe our new legislators should explore what possibility the powers of Holyrood have to make them illegal.
Half of Scots universities increased zero-hours workers despite pledge
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