Zero hours. The dock gate is back.
Britain killed casual hiring at the dock gate after almost a century. Now over a million people are on zero hours contracts, and the old excuse no longer holds.
THE GIST ON ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS: "The Dock Gate"
Has Britain killed this deal before?
Zero hours contracts run the lives of over a million people in the UK. Britain has killed this exact deal before. It took the best part of a century, but it was finally dead. Now it's back with a vengeance, and nobody saw it coming.
What was the dock gate?
For a hundred years, dockers were hired at the gate. Turn up at dawn, stand in the crowd, and the foreman picks who eats that day. Parliament called it the blue-eyed boy system, and hated it so much they spent the best part of a century getting rid of it. Then every docker had a permanent job.
A permanent job was just an insurance policy. You hand over the upside of a busy Saturday and the firm covers a quiet Tuesday. That's the deal. A zero hours contract cancels that policy: same rate, no cover, and you eat it when it's quiet.
Why was the dockers' deal at least honest?
The deal for dockers was brutal, but it was honest. No one knew if the ship was coming in that day.
Today's businesses have a fraction of that unpredictability and forecast demand to the hour. Yet 130,000 people have been on zero hours with the same employer for a decade. Nobody keeps you for a decade if the work is that unpredictable. The ship always comes in now.
Who pays for the uncertainty?
The uncertainty became a discount taken off the person least able to fund it. Someone who doesn't know what they're doing on a Thursday can't really get a tenancy, and they can't take a second job. They're in indentured servitude to a daily coin toss. And the balance sheet never carries that quiet Tuesday.
The law started changing in December and the rules are being rewritten this week. Do you think we'll see the back of them?
Would you take a zero hours job?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
How many people are on zero hours contracts?
Over a million in the UK, and 130,000 have been on zero hours with the same employer for a decade.
What was the dock gate system?
Dockers turned up at dawn and the foreman picked who worked and ate that day. Parliament called it the blue-eyed boy system and spent the best part of a century abolishing it.
Is the law changing?
Huw says the law started changing in December and the rules are being rewritten this week.
See you on the next one.
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