Birmingham and Coventry National Union of Journalists

Labour Party up to Their Necks With Zero Hour Contracts

These contracts are not just the preserve of “rogue” employers in the private sector like Sports Direct (20,000 workers on zero hours) and McDonald’s (82,000) but are also common in the voluntary and public sector (where up to 200,000 workers could be on zero hours contracts).

Unison says that 97 per cent of all councils use zero-hours contracts for homecare services.


Several Labour councils are using such contracts including Newham, Brent and Tower Hamlets in London, Preston (150 on zero hours like contracts) and Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council where up to 2,759 workers (according to International Business Times) are on zero hours.

 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development research suggests that there could be about one million zero hours workers in the UK