One of NI Conservatives' representatives in North Down, Brian McBride, has described the local Green Party MLA, Stephen Agnew’s, suggestion that ‘zero hours contracts’ could be banned as “a knee-jerk reaction, from a party whose first instinct seems to be to treat job creators with the utmost suspicion”.
“The government is currently reviewing how these ‘zero hours’ contracts work for employees and employers”, Brian explained. “Some reform might be the outcome, but to suggest an outright ban, based on hardly any information, and an apparent assumption that people creating jobs are out to ‘exploit’ their employees, simply doesn’t make any sense.”
“Zero hours contracts are not suitable for every worker, but they do offer a great deal of flexibility, which suits many people’s lifestyles, for instance students or those with families. It should be pointed out that employees can turn down work, if it doesn’t suit them and they are protected from being discriminated against on the basis of their decision.”
“There is a need to gather more information about these contracts, to see if the law needs tweaked in order to make them work better for employees and employers. That information is not yet available and the Green Party’s knee-jerk talk about bans is simply anti-jobs, anti-business populism at its worst.”
NB.
The CIPD report has revealed that more people than previously thought are on ‘zero hour contracts’ in the UK. It is believed this is probably because employers are employing staff directly, rather than through agencies. (http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/08/05/one-million-workers-on-zero-hours-contracts-finds-cipd-study.aspx)
The Green Party in GB have called for a ban on these contracts and protests against them. (http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2013/07/31/green-party-leader-natalie-bennett-zero-hours-contracts-should-be-banned/)