Zero hours contracts

It seems the above have been in existance in some workplaces in this country for many years. Yet it has taken publicity in the UK media to highlight the situation here. Why?

Off the top of my head, I would say because we are talking about mainly young and foreign workers with no voice.

dewdrop said:

It seems the above have been in existance in some workplaces in this country for many years. Yet it has taken publicity in the UK media to highlight the situation here. Why?

Click to expand...

You will see a lot more of them across a lot of private sectors.

"Never waste a good recession" is the mantra these type of employers use when justifying these "contracts"

I have always been a big fan of Unions,without them regardless of their failings,we wage slaves would be in a pretty poor position.

I still don't get what the benefits of zero-hour contracts are to the victims (apparently they are called "employees"). Listening in to the debate in the UK they seem to say flexibility, but that doesn't seem to add up, any flexibility seems to be weighted in favour of the employer not the employee. Is it simply a case of no other options? In which case is is not in effect duress?