United Kingdom - 3.9 million insecure workers - August 31, 2023

Government inaction has allowed the unchecked growth of insecure work. Analysis by the union confederation TUC shows that by the end of 2022 there were around 3.9 million people in insecure employment. Huge swathes of the workforce suffer from the effects of insecure employment. For example: zero hours contract workers have great uncertainty over their working hours meaning they often don’t know when their next shift will be or if they will be able to pay their bills. Agency workers are being forced to use payroll companies that make unfair deductions from their hard-earned wages. Many self-employed workers don’t benefit from basic workplace rights such as parental leave and struggle financially, with 1.88 million self-employed workers earning less than 2/3rds of the median wage (£9.72; € 11.31). The union demands a new approach that restores power to workers to negotiate secure, decent work for those in insecure employment.

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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.