A drop in the ocean...

[Davy51]

Yes Inky, i know what you're saying about where you work , but there are a lot of companies out there offering only zero hours contracts & also exploiting the whole concept of temporary working  just because they are in a position to do so. I worked for a well known company & over a period of about 15 years the company was taken over twice & ended  up as part of a global logistics outfit  & where the warehouse operation was concerned  the exploitation of the workforce was ruthless. Regular batches of people were made redundant on a Friday to be replaced by Eastern Europeans on a Monday....this happened several times until most of the workforce were foreign & working all hours  God sent & if there was no work on our job they would be employed on another contract . Meanwhile the agency that brought these workers over were cleaning up by renting houses out to  these migrants & putting as many as they could into each house. Employment without compassion & that is a well known European logistics company.... many of those people made redundant were of a certain age where going back into the labour market  was a daunting prospect considering they had loyally spent their time in long term employment  & now had to go out into a big world of  (un)employment that had changed so much.In situations like that  which are widespread in the country it is near enough impossible to plan a future  let alone a pension.

[wolfie]

Regardless of minimum wage and working hours agreements, companies will find a way around it. As I stated previously, most hairdressers are on less than minimum wage, most don't get paid for sickness and most work less than 30 hours a week so don't qualify for Working Tax Credits (same in the restaurant trade) and if you work for Aldi or Lidl 60 hours a week is the norm  for managers and again less than 30 for the plebs and regardless of how many people are in full time jobs there is always someone who will take your place, so you either accept the pitiful wage and long hours or you can bog off and be replaced by someone else. BTW it appears that the real value of wages in the UK is now less than it was 2003.