an article by Deirdre McCann (Durham University, England) and Judy Fudge (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) published in Journal of Law and Society Volume 46 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
Upgrading low‐waged and insecure work is central to contemporary labour and development initiatives, from the UN Sustainable Development Goals to the United Kingdom ‘Taylor Review’.
The International Labour Organization's notion of unacceptable forms of work (UFW) is a crucial contribution. Yet the regulatory frameworks that can effectively address UFW are unclear.
This article builds on a novel framework ‐ the Multidimensional Model of UFW. Drawing on theoretical literatures at the frontline of regulation scholarship, it proposes a strategic approach to UFW regulation that supports development, acknowledges the constrained resources of low‐income countries, and targets expansive and sustainable effects.
Two key concepts are identified: points of leverage and institutional dynamism. Globally‐prominent regulatory frameworks are assessed as a starting point for mapping the strategic approach: the Mathadi Act of Maharashtra, India; Uruguayan domestic work legislation; minimum wages in the global North and South; and United Kingdom regulation of ‘zero‐hours contracts’.
Full text (PDF 31pp)
Showing posts with label zero-hours_contracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zero-hours_contracts. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Acas report reveals that half of UK workers think that gig working will remain the same over the year ahead
an ACAS news report
Acas report reveals that half of UK workers think that gig working will remain the same over the year ahead
A new report from workplace experts, Acas, has revealed that nearly half of workers (49%) believe that the use of gig workers will stay about the same in the year ahead.
The new Acas study looks at policy thinking on the quality of work and productivity. It includes a YouGov poll that asked workers about the key issues for their workplaces and working lives over 2019.
Continue reading
Acas report reveals that half of UK workers think that gig working will remain the same over the year ahead
A new report from workplace experts, Acas, has revealed that nearly half of workers (49%) believe that the use of gig workers will stay about the same in the year ahead.
The new Acas study looks at policy thinking on the quality of work and productivity. It includes a YouGov poll that asked workers about the key issues for their workplaces and working lives over 2019.
Continue reading
Friday, 4 January 2019
Enforce the rules to help workers in Britain’s changing workforce
a post by Lindsay Judge for the Resolution Foundation blog
It’s here at last. Almost a year and a half after the Taylor Review was published and four consultations on, the government has finally released its plan of action to improve the quality of jobs in the UK. So is this an early Christmas present for the millions of people who work through an agency, are on a zero hour contract or find their jobs via a platform? Or simply a turkey for all of those in atypical work?
For agency workers there’s a certainly a big win: the commitment from government to repeal the ‘Swedish Derogation’, a piece of legislation that allows firms to pay agency workers who have been in post for three months-plus less than directly employed staff in the same job. From a living standards perspective that’s definitely good news, going some way to reducing the £400 a year pay penalty that agency workers experience simply because of the way they work. Moreover, the government has said it will take steps to provide agency workers with a clear statement of rights. Given we have flagged before that knowledge of holiday pay entitlements and auto-enrolment is particularly parlous, action on these fronts would be especially welcome.
Continue reading
It’s here at last. Almost a year and a half after the Taylor Review was published and four consultations on, the government has finally released its plan of action to improve the quality of jobs in the UK. So is this an early Christmas present for the millions of people who work through an agency, are on a zero hour contract or find their jobs via a platform? Or simply a turkey for all of those in atypical work?
For agency workers there’s a certainly a big win: the commitment from government to repeal the ‘Swedish Derogation’, a piece of legislation that allows firms to pay agency workers who have been in post for three months-plus less than directly employed staff in the same job. From a living standards perspective that’s definitely good news, going some way to reducing the £400 a year pay penalty that agency workers experience simply because of the way they work. Moreover, the government has said it will take steps to provide agency workers with a clear statement of rights. Given we have flagged before that knowledge of holiday pay entitlements and auto-enrolment is particularly parlous, action on these fronts would be especially welcome.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 6 March 2018
The UK’s tight labour market and zero hours contracts
a post by Daniel Tomlinson for the Resolution Foundation blog
After five years of rapid increases, the number of people working on a zero hours contract has flat-lined in the UK over the past year. A tighter labour market may not yet be delivering increases in real pay, but it is slowly reshaping the type of work that we do for the better.
It’s also welcome that today’s employment statistics show that it’s not just the use of zero hours contracts (ZHCs) that has plateaued – the numbers of people working as self-employed, part-time and as agency workers have all stopped rising over recent months.
But atypical employment is still too high. There are over 900,000 people working on a ZHCand over 800,000 people working as agency workers (up 25 per cent compared to pre-crisis levels). Part-time work is also elevated, accounting for a notably larger share of employment than it did before the crisis.
With all of these forms of work there will be an array of experiences – for some, atypical work is a good way to spend a semi-retirement or to grab some extra hours between university terms. For others, however, this work is less positive – recent Resolution Foundation research found that over a quarter of men working in low-paid part-time work wanted to work more hours than they currently did.
What of ZHC workers? Who are they and how do they feel about the hours they work? Well, today [21 February] the ONS has published a suite of statistics focusing particularly on zero-hours contract workers. Newly buried in the big quarterly data release these fascinating numbers are now easy to miss, so it seems worthwhile to spell out some of the most important findings from today’s data deluge.
Continue reading
After five years of rapid increases, the number of people working on a zero hours contract has flat-lined in the UK over the past year. A tighter labour market may not yet be delivering increases in real pay, but it is slowly reshaping the type of work that we do for the better.
It’s also welcome that today’s employment statistics show that it’s not just the use of zero hours contracts (ZHCs) that has plateaued – the numbers of people working as self-employed, part-time and as agency workers have all stopped rising over recent months.
But atypical employment is still too high. There are over 900,000 people working on a ZHCand over 800,000 people working as agency workers (up 25 per cent compared to pre-crisis levels). Part-time work is also elevated, accounting for a notably larger share of employment than it did before the crisis.
With all of these forms of work there will be an array of experiences – for some, atypical work is a good way to spend a semi-retirement or to grab some extra hours between university terms. For others, however, this work is less positive – recent Resolution Foundation research found that over a quarter of men working in low-paid part-time work wanted to work more hours than they currently did.
What of ZHC workers? Who are they and how do they feel about the hours they work? Well, today [21 February] the ONS has published a suite of statistics focusing particularly on zero-hours contract workers. Newly buried in the big quarterly data release these fascinating numbers are now easy to miss, so it seems worthwhile to spell out some of the most important findings from today’s data deluge.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 5 December 2017
The stress of low-paid work is making our country sick
an article by Dawn Foster published in the Guardian
In modern Britain’s zero-hours labour market, unemployment is sometimes a healthier option than taking a job
‘The decline of industry and casualisation of the workforce has led to a boom in jobs that are high stress, low paid and now, it seems, actively harmful.’ Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
On Tuesday Heather left her desk, locked herself into a toilet cubicle and wept for 30 minutes, covering her mouth with a fistful of toilet paper to avoid being heard by her colleagues. For the last year, the 26-year-old has been having nightmares about her workplace, and has been signed off with depression on and off for the past four months. The Glasgow customer service call centre she works in has a high turnover of staff, who are often signed off with anxiety and depression, and the constant management warnings about being laid off if calls aren’t dealt with in strict timeframes are massively stressful for staff on zero-hours contracts with barely any employment rights.
Heather’s experience isn’t unusual. Researchers from Manchester University this month released research showing poor-quality jobs are actually worse for mental health than unemployment. Adults who transitioned from unemployment into low-paid work had elevated risks for a number of health issues, especially chronic stress.
Continue reading
In modern Britain’s zero-hours labour market, unemployment is sometimes a healthier option than taking a job
‘The decline of industry and casualisation of the workforce has led to a boom in jobs that are high stress, low paid and now, it seems, actively harmful.’ Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
On Tuesday Heather left her desk, locked herself into a toilet cubicle and wept for 30 minutes, covering her mouth with a fistful of toilet paper to avoid being heard by her colleagues. For the last year, the 26-year-old has been having nightmares about her workplace, and has been signed off with depression on and off for the past four months. The Glasgow customer service call centre she works in has a high turnover of staff, who are often signed off with anxiety and depression, and the constant management warnings about being laid off if calls aren’t dealt with in strict timeframes are massively stressful for staff on zero-hours contracts with barely any employment rights.
Heather’s experience isn’t unusual. Researchers from Manchester University this month released research showing poor-quality jobs are actually worse for mental health than unemployment. Adults who transitioned from unemployment into low-paid work had elevated risks for a number of health issues, especially chronic stress.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Turning up to be sent home without pay: life in insecure work
by Alex Collinson in Working Life (Touchstone blog from the TUC)
Imagine turning up to work only to be sent home without pay. It would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?
It would be more frustrating still if you had already paid for childcare that day; or if you’d cancelled other plans so you could work; or if not receiving that day’s pay would make it difficult to make ends meet that week.
For millions of people working in insecure jobs, this is what they face every day.
In a recent survey, the TUC heard from hundreds of people about their experiences of insecure work. Over the next four days, we’ll look at four themes that emerged in the responses:
Imagine turning up to work only to be sent home without pay. It would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?
It would be more frustrating still if you had already paid for childcare that day; or if you’d cancelled other plans so you could work; or if not receiving that day’s pay would make it difficult to make ends meet that week.
For millions of people working in insecure jobs, this is what they face every day.
In a recent survey, the TUC heard from hundreds of people about their experiences of insecure work. Over the next four days, we’ll look at four themes that emerged in the responses:
- Unpredictable hours
- Fluctuating pay leading to financial difficulties
- Fear of turning down shifts
- Sick pay and holiday entitlements
Friday, 23 August 2013
ONS announces additional estimate of zero-hours contracts
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced plans for an additional regular estimate of the number of ‘zero-hours’ employment contracts in the UK workforce.
From autumn 2013, one of ONS’s large-scale monthly business surveys will include some questions on zero-hours contracts so as to obtain robust data directly from employers. These will be asked on a quarterly basis with the first results expected to be published in early 2014.
To ensure that users’ needs are met, ONS will undertake a short consultation exercise in September 2013 to clarify the data requirements.
The current estimate is based on an ad hoc analysis of employee responses collected in the regular Labour Force Survey (LFS). While the LFS is the largest household survey of any kind conducted in the UK, this question depends on employees knowing and correctly reporting their terms of employment.
Glen Watson, Director General of the Office for National Statistics, said: “ONS’s role is to provide reliable statistics that inform debate and improve decision making. We have followed the debate on zero-hours contracts and there is a clear need for better statistics. The best way to gather the information needed is to ask employers rather than individual employees. They are best placed to provide accurate information about the employment terms of their workforce. We plan to add some new questions to one of our business surveys to shed new light on this important issue.”
From autumn 2013, one of ONS’s large-scale monthly business surveys will include some questions on zero-hours contracts so as to obtain robust data directly from employers. These will be asked on a quarterly basis with the first results expected to be published in early 2014.
To ensure that users’ needs are met, ONS will undertake a short consultation exercise in September 2013 to clarify the data requirements.
The current estimate is based on an ad hoc analysis of employee responses collected in the regular Labour Force Survey (LFS). While the LFS is the largest household survey of any kind conducted in the UK, this question depends on employees knowing and correctly reporting their terms of employment.
Glen Watson, Director General of the Office for National Statistics, said: “ONS’s role is to provide reliable statistics that inform debate and improve decision making. We have followed the debate on zero-hours contracts and there is a clear need for better statistics. The best way to gather the information needed is to ask employers rather than individual employees. They are best placed to provide accurate information about the employment terms of their workforce. We plan to add some new questions to one of our business surveys to shed new light on this important issue.”
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
A Matter of Time: The rise of zero-hours contracts
a research paper by Matthew Pennycook, Vidhya Alakeson and Giselle Cory for the Resolution Foundation published June 2013
Abstract
“Zero-hours” (or occasionally “nil hours”) contracts are anything but a new phenomenon. Employment contracts of this kind have been around for many years. Yet the use of zero-hours contracts has risen sharply in recent years. According to the Office for National Statistics the number of people employed on zero-hours contracts rose from 134,000 in 2006 (0.5 per cent of the workforce) to 208,000 (0.7 per cent) in 2012.
While the clear upward trend is not in dispute there are reasons to believe that these headline figures are a substantial under-estimate of the true scale of the use of zero-hours contracts across the UK.
It is not hard to see why zero-hours contracts can appear attractive to employers. They allow for maximum flexibility to meet changing demand. They can facilitate the management of risk, reduce the costs of recruitment and training, and they can, in certain circumstances, enable employers to avoid particular employment obligations. Yet it is clear that the benefits these contracts provide for employers come at too high a price for the majority of those employed on them.
Full text (PDF 22pp)
Abstract
“Zero-hours” (or occasionally “nil hours”) contracts are anything but a new phenomenon. Employment contracts of this kind have been around for many years. Yet the use of zero-hours contracts has risen sharply in recent years. According to the Office for National Statistics the number of people employed on zero-hours contracts rose from 134,000 in 2006 (0.5 per cent of the workforce) to 208,000 (0.7 per cent) in 2012.
While the clear upward trend is not in dispute there are reasons to believe that these headline figures are a substantial under-estimate of the true scale of the use of zero-hours contracts across the UK.
It is not hard to see why zero-hours contracts can appear attractive to employers. They allow for maximum flexibility to meet changing demand. They can facilitate the management of risk, reduce the costs of recruitment and training, and they can, in certain circumstances, enable employers to avoid particular employment obligations. Yet it is clear that the benefits these contracts provide for employers come at too high a price for the majority of those employed on them.
Full text (PDF 22pp)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
