Greene King abandons zero-hours contracts
Brewer Greene King is to take thousands of pub workers off zero-hours contracts over the coming year. The company had already abandoned such contracts for its own staff and will now extend that to workers for the Spirit Pub Company, which it acquired last year. The use of zero-hours contracts has risen by 20% to 900,000 over the last year but is facing growing opposition. As we reported earlier this week, pub chain JD Wetherspoon announced that it will offer staff the choice of fixed hours. However, Center Parcs today faced criticism for advertising Christmas Elf jobs on zero-hours contracts.

Thousands of pub workers in chains including Wacky Warehouse are set to be moved off zero-hours contracts by brewer Greene King over the next year.

The Suffolk-based company said it was in the process of moving workers to contracts that guarantee a minimum number of hours, following its takeover of the Spirit Pub Company last year.

In 2013, Spirit, the owner of chains including Chef & Brewer and Wacky Warehouse, said that most of its 16,000 employees were on the contracts, which give no guarantee of work from one day to the next. The hospitality industry is the biggest user of such contracts, which have been criticised by unions for not offering workers any security over pay.



Greene King, which had already moved its staff from zero-hours contracts before buying Spirit in 2015, said it was working on moving employees to new minimum hours contracts. A spokesman said: “We do not have zero-hours contracts in Greene King pubs.



“Spirit Pub Company, which we acquired last year, does have legacy zero-hours contracts; we identified this as part of our due diligence and planned to remove them as part of the integration.” He added: “We will be moving to minimum hours contracts for all colleagues in ex-Spirit pubs over the next year.”

Last week, official figures showed that the number of people on zero-hours contracts had leapt by 20% in a year to more than 900,000. But there are signs that the backlash against them is forcing employers to reconsider their use.

Following criticism of its employment practices, Sports Direct said it would offer 18,000 workers at its shops contracts guaranteeing at least 12 hours’ work a week, although it has emerged that this change could take until the end of the year.

On Sunday, pub firm JD Wetherspoon said that it would allow 24,000 staff to choose between a zero-hours contract and one offering fixed hours after a successful trial of the scheme. Its chairman, Tim Martin, told Buzzfeed that around two-thirds of staff had opted to move off zero hours and on to guaranteed contracts, guaranteeing around 70% of the typical number of hours they work each week.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in November 2015 a quarter of companies in the accommodation and food services sector said they made some use of zero-hours contracts.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s said it would expand a pilot scheme, offering workers a choice on contracts, with a view to rolling it out across the UK next year. A spokesman said a larger trial was ongoing. “In January we launched a trial in three stores in the north-west, offering our teams the chance to switch to a four-, 16- or 30-hour contract. Over 80% of the employees opted to stay on their existing flexible contract,” McDonald’s said.



“Almost 2,500 colleagues are now part of this ongoing test which we would look to make more widely available in the new year, after learnings taken from this year.”

