By Lou-Eve Popper, Freelance Journalist Despite the British government’s job rescue plan, numerous workers on so-called zero hours contracts remain in very precarious situations today When Rishi Sunak, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on Friday 20 March measures designed to protect jobs, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Thanks to his furlough scheme, officially called Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all businesses asking for help were going to be able to benefit from state financial support to continue paying employees despite the lack of trading. Eighty percent of wages would be claimed for the next three months, up to a limit of £2,500 per month. It has never seen before in terms of public spending, especially for a Conservative government. As the Chancellor the Exchequer himself said: “The actions that I have taken today represent an unprecedented economic intervention to support the jobs and incomes of the British people.” In fairness, some days earlier, Boris Johnson’s government had already loosened the purse strings. When the UK budget was presented on 11 March, Rishi Sunak announced he would spend an extra £173 bn over the next five years, putting an end to a decade of austerity. And the coronavirus crisis finished transforming the British government into a Keynesian strike force. However, not all 33 million British workers have benefited from the government hand-outs. The government measures have undoubtedly protected millions of workers benefiting from secure employment contracts. Unfortunately, Rishi Sunak’s rescue plan has also left behind many insecure workers. ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS ARE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE Among them is a large number of workers on zero hours contracts, who have no guaranteed minimum number of hours of work and are at the employer’s disposal. Out of the 900 000 of these precarious workers in the UK, 70 000 are in Scotland, the majority of whom are women employed in the hospitality sector. The main characteristic of a zero hours contract is that you are only called up to work when needed. With the closure of their businesses, a number of British bosses have not felt inclined to take to the administrative steps to continue to pay their employees. Valentina Christoforidi, a 32-year-old Greek woman, can bear witness to it. Since November 2019, she was working as a waitress for Elior, a catering company in Edinburgh, while studying. Her hours used to vary between five and 22 hours a week, until 11 March, when the company brutally stopped calling her. When Valentina finally asked her manager if she could continue to be paid through government aid, she was told that the government scheme did not apply to occasional workers, which is absolutely false. Zero hours contract workers are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) indicates on its website: all workers on the PAYE system can be furloughed, which was Valentina’s case. This applies to everyone who was on the payroll before 19 March 2020. Following new directives from the government, even employees who were employed on 28 February but left before 19 March can get rehired by their old employer, who can then claim 80 % of their salary from the government. Unfortunately, this only depends on the goodwill of the employer. Lorenzo Luzzani, 40-year-old Italian head chef, can sadly confirm this. He quit his job in the restaurant at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh on 11 March and was about to start a new one elsewhere when the lockdown was announced. Finding himself without any income, Lorenzo tried several times to be re-employed by his old company but never got a response from them. Since then, the chef has managed to find a job in Tesco, where he makes bread 16 hours a week. Since the end of April, he has also been receiving Universal Credit, an allowance of £410 a month. This income is absolutely insufficient to live on in Edinburgh: “I have to move out, I cannot pay my rent of £700”, Lorenzo sighs. Like him, there are a number of zero hours contract workers who have also been plunged into a very precarious situation. As a result of their calls for help, the campaigning organisation Zero Hours Justice published an open letter on Friday 1st May in The Guardian, calling on all employers to be responsible. PAYMENT OF WAGES STILL PENDING Of course, quite a number of compassionate employers have claimed support from the government to pay wages. As a matter of fact, eighty percent of the accommodation and food service activities industry has already furloughed its employees. But while Rishi Sunak’s announcement is now seven weeks old, payment has still not arrived. And workers are still left without incomes. This is the case for Jessica Hamilton, a 23-year-old woman from Northern Ireland. Before the crisis, she used to work about 15 hours a week as an English teacher at a language school in Edinburgh. When the lockdown was announced, the school promised to pay zero hours contract workers with the government’s help. “They’ve been unsuccessful in receiving the funding so we’re yet to receive anything. They’ve told us it will come eventually. I’m sceptical though” says Jessica. In March, the young woman couldn’t afford to pay the rent and went back to her parents in Northern Ireland. For workers who have already been paid, the support is nevertheless bittersweet. In hospitality, incomes rely a lot on tips. But unsurprisingly, the 80 % wage claimable from the government is based on the basic wage and non-discretionary payments. Maxime Magnien, a 23-year-old French man based in Edinburgh, can testify to this. Working at Rabble, a restaurant located in an upper-class area of Edinburgh, his average income was £1,800 per month, including £600 in tips. Through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, his pay has been halved: “My rent is £600. Fortunately, I also receive a university grant of £800 a month.” The original article in French has been published on Lou-Eve Popper’s blog. Translation by Pravin Jeyaraj
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