The Zero Hour Contract

Graham_Devon

CLAPTON wrote: »

you might like to read about 'retained fireman'

although not paid Mountain Rescue Services and Lifeboat Rescue are also services without contracted hours


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retained_firefighter

A retained firefigher is nothing like a zero hour contract.

All the retained firefighters around here have to work locally in the area. Their employers have to agree to it, before they can become retained.

If they get a call out, they get a payment for that call out. He then gets a payment for any amount of hours he is out for over a 2 hours period (think it's 2 hours). The initial payment is around 50 quid I believe.

We have a retained firefighter at work and he regularly leaves for a false alarm.He gets paid each time, and carried on getting paid at work. The emplpyer has agreed this can happen and no one is even at risk of being used.

Absolutely nothing like a zero hour contract.

Same for the coastguard and I think St Johns if there is an emergency medical cover requirement.

SkyeKnight

olly300 wrote: »

Those aren't actually 0 hour contracts as I know nurses and supply teacher who worked like that i.e. they had a choice whether to work.

The people in retail, restaurant and hospitality industries don't have that choice they have to turn up when called or texted.

Legally they have the right to refuse any work offered if they are on a zero hours contract. Everything has to be mutually agreed exactly as it does for nurses an teachers. Of course, I suspect in reality if you refuse any work you would go to the bottom of the list for any further call-ups, so the law is totally worthless (and somehow I suspect the government know this).

grizzly1911

SkyeKnight wrote: »

I suspect in reality if you refuse any work you would go to the bottom of the list for any further call-ups, so the law is totally worthless (and somehow I suspect the government know this).

Government duplicitous well I never;)

Keeps the plates spinning a little longer until they are found out.

CLAPTON

Graham_Devon wrote: »

A retained firefigher is nothing like a zero hour contract.

All the retained firefighters around here have to work locally in the area. Their employers have to agree to it, before they can become retained.

the point is there are a wide variety of workpatterns and contracts

here you have given an example of a very severe restriction on the worker... he/she will only be accepted for being employed as a retained firefighter if their other employment agrees to allow then to leave on demand.

if the other employment doesn't agree then the worker can't work for one or the other ...

yes it is different from the supermarket employee who must be available at a drop of a hat but it's not that different; only a matter of degree.

personally, if I knew a local store were using the system originally described then I would boycott them; but that's a long way from forbidding it.

grizzly1911

olly300 wrote: »

MPs and Cabinet Ministers don't count as they have fixed term contracts and get a fixed salary while they are in those jobs. Even if they don't turn up they get paid.

Exactly - great way of saving money tear up their contracts.

Loughton_Monkey

I like the old McDonalds system [subject of great publicity some years ago] where they would pay the young spotty lads by the hour. They'd be told to turn up, say, 8 am. Then, probably about 10, he'd be told to go out the back for a smoke or something (unpaid) and would be called back, say, 12 noon when it started getting busy again....

So attend for 10 hours, but only get paid for 5 of them.....

Never mind. One day, McDonalds will be 100% automated. Robots etc. Robots don't need paying at all, and they don't join unions, get pregnant, steal from the till, need holidays, pensions, and don't slag off the boss.

Quasar

Generali wrote: »

Presumably this cuts both ways though. There will be many on a zero hours contract who are good at what they do and thus get full time work as a result.

From what the OP suggests about the Newsnight program, these people would be described as in part time work despite working full time.

As the last 30 years have shown us, if you want high unemployment and especially high youth unemployment, make it impossible to get rid of staff. French youth unemployment over the past 30 years has been a scandal, basically because their parents keep voting to have their own nests feathered.

That's how I've been working the past 14 years. Market researchers employed by several agencies (not interviewig work!), calling me as and when the work comes in. Because I'm reliable and good at it I've never had trouble putting together a full income. Unfortunately the rates of pay have dropped in the last couple of years, but I still make ends meet and have saved up in the good years.

However, I'm not very impressed with companies such as McDonald working on this basis, as that can't allow people to earn much.

grizzly1911

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Never mind. One day, McDonalds will be 100% automated. Robots etc. Robots don't need paying at all, and they don't join unions, get pregnant, steal from the till, need holidays, pensions, and don't slag off the boss.

But robots cost money to build and program. They also needs vast swathes of technicians to keep them repaired and flipping just right. Visions of the Smash robots.

Probably be more nutritious to eat than the food.

KrytenIceCubeHead

If you're so confident of your abilities to earn, walk into your employer and offer to resign and take on a zero hours contract. They're exploitation, straightforward as that.

And if you're opposed to these as a consumer, see who the companies are who use them most. Do you really need that burger?

ash28

StevieJ wrote: »

What happens if there is a fire when he is doing his proper job?

He has to leave it and go to the firestation.

The firefighters at the firestation are all retained and the local employers seem to be quite happy with the system.

They do get called out more often than I thought - it's mainly to road traffic accidents rather than fires.

The firefighters are on call, they can decide how many hours they are on call, they can decide if the on call is evenings only, weekends only, during the week or a mixture.

We have quite a few accidents - we expected the car insurance to go down once we moved to a rural location from our busy corner of the south east - it went up. When we saw the "red routes" and actually saw a number of accidents - we realised why the insurance had gone up. Most of the roads are quite fast (national speed limit) and very windy - and people are always in a hurry and get very impatient.

The last accident just outside the village was a courier van that had gone off the road into a ditch full of water, deeper than the van, it happened after all the rain we had during the "drought", the driver had managed to get out through a window but his van had to be winched out by the fire service.

My brother in law was a full time fireman and hated retained firemen with a passion - but living where we do I'm glad we have them. The nearest proper firestation is over 20 miles away