Miliband pledges to crack down on worst of zero hours abuses

Ed Miliband will today confirm that a Labour government would crack down on the very work abuses of zero hours contracts – but will stop short of pledging to ban them. Speaking in Motherwell – on a day of campaigning in Scotland along with the rest of the Shadow Cabinet – Miliband will reveal the findings of the “Pickavance Review” – conducted by Norman Pickavance, the former head of HR at Morrisons, the findings of which Labour will implement in office.

On zero hours contracts, that would mean new rights for workers:

• To demand a fixed hours contract when they have worked regular hours over six months with the same employer
• To receive a fixed hours contract automatically when they have worked regular hours over a year – unless they decide to opt out
• To be protected from employers forcing them to be available at all hours, insisting they cannot work for anyone else, or cancelling shifts at short notice without compensation.

Such changes would constitute a clear improvement in working conditions for many of the 600,000+ people in the UK currently tied to zero hour contracts  – especially in terms of securing fixed hours contracts, and not being prohibited from working for another employer or bounced into working hours at short notice.

Yet the praise within the Labour Party and the wider Labour movement for this move is likely to be tempered by a disappointment that the party won’t go as far as ruling out zero hours contracts altogether – especially when today’s announcement is so similar to one made by Miliband last September.

Pickavance has explained his reluctance to do so based on the “flexibility” some workers seek, saying:

“My review recognises that for some people, like those in semi-retirement or students fitting work between studies, these contracts can provide just the kind of flexibility they are looking for. The problem is these arrangements are wide open to abuse. My recommendations will retain the flexibility that some individuals are looking for but will remove the abuse.”

Of course it’s no coincidence either that Miliband is making this announcement in Scotland. He’s arguing that social justice can be sustained by Scotland in the UK, but would be lost in a race to the bottom against the rest of the UK. More on that on LabourList later today…