Zero-Hour Contracts Keep Us Precarious

Zero-hour contracts are often toted as a win-win, one where the worker and employer can both benefit and “decide” how much they work. In reality, Niamh Illiff writes in this guest post, this flexibility is a myth – one that benefits employers, not workers. These contracts gift employers with all the power, deciding how many hours to offer while workers are left in a constant state of uncertainty, never knowing how much they’ll earn from week to week. The employer - worker power dynamic is not ‘equalised’ under zero-hour contracts, but exacerbated, representing a heightened form of exploitation leaving workers vulnerable, with little control over their employment practise or financial stability.

 

Social Care under pressure: the problem of the for-profit sector

How we take care of seniors at a time in their life when they are most vulnerable and need the greatest support is an important public policy challenge. It also is a clear statement about who we are as a society. (McGregor and Ronald 2016)

Covid-19 and the related high number of deaths in care homes has revealed the shortcomings in the UK care home sector. While private companies reap large profits, the quality of care is often low and staff is poorly trained and lowly paid. I will argue that only the re-municipalisation of care homes can ultimately address the problems. 

The reality of precarious work in Brexit Britain

While the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson praises the country’s golden future as soon as Brexit has been accomplished by 31 October, increasing social inequality in the UK has dropped off the agenda. However, nine years of Conservative and Conservative-led governments have left their mark with many people stranded in abject poverty. The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty Philip Alston recently referred to government policy as "designing a digital and sanitised version of the 19th Century workhouse, made infamous by Charles Dickens" (BBC, 22 May 2019). In this blog post, I will look at precarious employment as one of the key causes of inequality.