Concern more workers in Dorset are getting stuck in zero hours contracts
Workers across the county have admitted to being "stuck" on zero-hour contracts that offer "few rights or protections"
There are fears thousands of people across Dorset are being “trapped” in low paying, insecure jobs have boomed, leading to a call to ban zero-hour contracts.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that two in three zero hours contract workers have been with their current employer for over a year, while one in eight have been with their employer for over 10 years.
Ines Lage, regional secretary at the TUC, said: “Typically, being with a company for longer than a year is a stable employment situation yet zero-hour contract say ‘we as the employer don’t owe you any hours’.
“These contracts also tend to come with worse terms and conditions with the average worker usually on minimum wage and without protections such as sick pay.”
Black and minority ethnic women are nearly three times as likely to be on zero hours contracts as white men, said the report.
Now, the TUC calls on government to ban zero-hour contracts - which 1.15 million people across the country are on – as they offer “few rights or protections” and come without the guarantee of shifts.
Ines Lage said: “These contracts are very one sided and overwhelmingly favour the employer.
“As a worker you're effectively handing over complete control of your hours and your earning power to the employer and that makes it very difficult for you to have a good work life balance.
“The level of financial insecurity people have under a zero hour contract can be really difficult to manage, particularly in a cost of living crisis.”
According to the report, insecure work has boomed on the Conservatives' watch over the past 14 years with bad employers parking workers on zero hours contracts for years on end.
But the Department for Business and Trade says Zero-hour contracts offer flexibility for those who may need to balance work around personal commitments whilst helping employers with less demand for permanent staff.
Ines Lage disagreed: “There are contracts were intended to be this temporary measures for employers, and the argument that it offer flexibility on both sides, just doesn’t hold up. We've seen bad employees take advantage and basically leave workers in the lurch.
“These contracts make it nigh on impossible to plan budgets and childcare, that’s why a ban on zero hours contracts is long overdue.”