After a decade long battle against casualisation and insecure work, the Unite union in New Zealand was able to win an agreement from the global fast food giant McDonalds to stop using ‘zero hours’ contracts. A ‘zero-hour’ contract allows employers to hire staff on a casual basis with no guarantee of work and with no regular work times. This precarious work arrangement is used all around the world to weaken workers power and to drive down workers wages and conditions. Unite’s victory symbolically came on May Day. The union now expects this agreement to flow on to other large fast food employers.
After a decade long battle against casualisation and insecure work, the Unite union in New Zealand was able to win an agreement from the global fast food giant McDonalds to stop using ‘zero hours’ contracts. A ‘zero-hour’ contract allows employers to hire staff on a casual basis with no guarantee of work and with no regular work times. This precarious work arrangement is used all around the world to weaken workers power and to drive down workers wages and conditions. Unite’s victory symbolically came on May Day. The union now expects this agreement to flow on to other large fast food employers.
