Casual workers left out to dry by Broxbourne Council during pandemic

YORK, U.K. - Nov. 2, 2020 - PRLog -- Campaign group Zero Hours Justice has condemned Broxbourne Council not to pay its casual workers anything for the work cancelled due to Covid-19 and the government lockdown.

In a meeting of the Council's Employment Panel on 27 October 2020, councillors agreed to accept the recommendation that casual workers should not have been furloughed or be paid for work lost.

Despite the unprecedented support from the government to help employers pay staff while closed, casual workers working in the council's sports centres have been one of the groups that have fallen through the cracks.

Pravin Jeyaraj, Communications Officer for Zero Hours Justice, said: "Whilst we accept that that there is no contractual obligation to pay casual workers for work not done, it is not unreasonable to expect employers to be flexible in the current, unusual circumstances. Despite the nature of their working arrangements, many of the casual workers have loyally undertaken work for many years. They could reasonably expect that, had it not been for the pandemic and lockdown, there would have been work for them to do."

Dawn Etheridge, one of Broxbourne's 458 casual workers affected, said: "I was very disappointed with the council's decision. It is an affluent borough that has admitted it did not need to use the furlough scheme as it had enough money.  Despite this, it could not see fit to support some of its lowest-paid workers, even for those shifts they already had booked before the pandemic started. To lose a large portion of your salary overnight caused real financial hardship to me. I have worked for Broxbourne Council regularly for eight year, an average of 10 hours a week. 10 hours a week on minimum wage may not seem a lot to some but if you are on a low income bringing up a family on your own it makes a huge difference. I am now nearly 60, so was cautious about going out to find work during a global pandemic."

Zero Hours Justice was launched in January 2020 by a coalition of concerned citizens to:

·         raise awareness of the stress and misery caused by zero hours contracts;

·         offer legal help to zero hours contract workers;

·         change the law through strategic litigation;

·         name and shame employers who mistreat zero hours contract staff.

It is led by Ian Hodson, who is also president of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, and founded and funded by Julian Richer, the founder of Richer Sounds and author of "The Ethical Capitalist".

For more information and to share your story or offer help or support, see http://www.zerohoursjustice.org