The Zero Hours contract issue continues to rage with reports in today's Irish Independent that the majority of workers at two of Ireland's leading fast-food chains are effectively on call for work with no guarantee of hours and can be sent home at a moment's notice with minimal pay.
Both McDonald's and Domino's Pizza have admitted to using zero-hour contracts, and while the Burger King chain in the UK has also admitted to using the contracts for 20,000 of its employees, its counterparts in Ireland have not responded to interview requests on the matter.
McDonald's confirmed that over 90% of its 4,200 non-managerial staff in Ireland are employed on zero-hour contracts and have been since 1999. Domino's Pizza also admitted to using them for the "majority of the non-managerial or supervisory positions", but would not say how many people it employs in the Republic or how long they have been in place.
The contracts have been making headlines in the UK recently after it emerged that 180,000 workers there must make themselves available for work without any guarantee they will be given hours. As we have previously discussed in Ireland the practice is also legal but workers are protected to a certain degree under the Organisation of Working Time Act, although it doesn't apply to casual employment. But both full- and part-time employees on a zero-hour contract who work less than 25% of their rostered hours in a week are entitled to some compensation (25% of their rostered hours or 15 hours, whichever is less)
Union activists and other critics claim it is a retrograde move in labour relations and inherently unfair to workers. Employers, however, claim it gives both workers and employers flexibility. "We employ many parents, second-job workers as well as students who would like flexibility in their role and we ensure working hours are set and agreed a week in advance," said a spokeswoman for Domino's Pizza. A McDonald's spokesman also defended the practice, stating it gives both sides flexibility while the company "endeavours to give 15 hours' work a week minimum".
But Ester Lynch, of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the contracts rarely benefited the worker. "There are lots of people who don't know what hours they'll be working. It's almost impossible to arrange childcare or organise a second job, It ties up a person's working week. It's very unfair and you're at the beck and call of the employer." John King, divisional organiser for the services division for SIPTU, said while zero-hour contracts don't seem to be as prevalent here as they are in the UK, it doesn't mean that workers here shouldn't be concerned. He also expressed concern about the potential for zero-hour contracts to be used by some employers to exploit workers. "There is a misconception that it's just students who are on them, but it's not," he said.
