Skip to main content
Zero-hours drags us back a century, says Wales TUC

Bosses’ zero-hours contracts obsession has sent workers’ rights back to an age where miners’ pay was decided by the price of coal, industrial experts have claimed.

A Wales TUC paper launched at the Welsh Assembly last night warns the assault on workers’ rights could result in the re-emergence of “sliding scale” pay.

Zero-hours contracts are making working people a “dispensable commodity” for bosses, authors Dr Karen Williams and Dr Jean Jenkins argue.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
NATIONALISATION CALL UNHEEDED: Assorted notables at the location of the new Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) on Monday July 14 2025 - Tata Steel gets £500 million while the local population a loss of 2,800 job
Wales / 28 February 2026
28 February 2026

LUKE FLETCHER outlines Plaid Cymru bold plans for wide-ranging policy consultations with trade unions in Wales

NHS resident doctors protest outside Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay. Picture date: Friday July 25, 2025
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027  — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE

WORKERS ON THE MARCH: Calling for a new deal for working people in 2022
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Labour must not allow unelected members of the upper house to erode a single provision of the Employment Rights Bill, argues ANDY MCDONALD MP

Workers' Rights / 1 July 2025
1 July 2025