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Zero Hours Contracts at UK Universities

They have been controversial since their introduction near the beginning of the 2010 Tory-Lib coalition and should Labour win the election in just a few weeks, they have pledged to abolish the loathed working contracts.

Most work contracts guarantee employees a minimum number of hours per week. When a contract is zero hours, the employer is under no obligation to provide work. Despite controversy, it seems that only 2% of the general population is on these contracts. When we look at zero hours contracts at UK universities, the issue is very different.

Zero Hours in our Universities

It has been known for several years that some higher education establishments use the controversial working system and zero hours contracts at UK universities presently stands at around 53% of employees. The problem is even greater in Scotland where it was revealed in March 2015 that some 79% of university employees were employed on the unpopular contract system. MPs on Westminster's Scottish Affairs Select Committee highlighted cases of exploitation and abuse in the country’s most prestigious academic institutions.

The University of Edinburgh came in for particular criticism in 2013-14 and when question following the survey, an unnamed spokesperson for the university claimed that the establishment had abolished the last of its zero hours contracts at the end of 2014. At a pre-election debate at The University of Glasgow, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “zero hours contracts cause poverty, stress and family breakdown – they don’t suit the majority of people on them.”

Unpopular Working Conditions

The policy has been very unpopular. 25% of all employees across the country have expressed unhappiness at their present working conditions and the figure is higher for the 2% on zero hour contracts. It is said that 80% of the general population are opposed to them though advocates point to the major benefit of flexibility (the Prime Minister believes that students prefer them for this reason); hospital bank staff, a scheme which has run successfully for many years, will be exempt from abolition or reform.

Union leaders have commented extensively on zero hours contracts at UK universities and have written to the Scottish organisations to ask them to phase them out as soon as possible. The government bowed to pressure and abolished “exclusivity clauses” which prevented employees from working elsewhere while employed on a zero hour contract.

Poverty charities such as Trussell Trust have also criticised zero hours contracts and it is expected that as the economic situation improves, the reasons that businesses claim they need people who work in this manner, will diminish. However, their use has actually increased during the 2013-14 financial year.