FOOD WORKERS ON ZERO HOUR CONTRACTS FAcED STARVATION DURING PANDEMIC

​By Pravin Jeyaraj

With employers forced to close down during the pandemic or implement social distancing measures, many zero hour workers found themselves without work and pay.

While the income of a zero hour contract worker is not guaranteed even during the best of times, the total loss of work - often without being being furloughed - meant that many found it difficult to pay for the basic necessities, such as food. 

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 22% of those working in the accommodation and food industry and 10% of those in the wholesale and retail sectors are on zero hour contracts.

Nowhere was this felt more acutely than in the food sector itself. A survey of the food sector by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union, in which 227 people responses, found that:

• 40% reported that they had eaten less they thought they should have done during the pandemic, due to lack of money;   
• 19% reported that, at some point during the pandemic, their household ran out of food due to lack of money;
• 35% had gone without food to make sure others in their household could eat properly;
• More than 20% needed the support of friends and family to put food on table and 7% have had to rely on a food bank.