Monday, 12 September 2016

Zero hours contract

I have a zero hours contract with the local council. It's not ideal, as, along with a team of other workers, we are offered very little work. However, it has been so good for me. I got the contract on completion of a course with the council on promoting healthy eating. It meant that I was able to earn money for the first time in seven years - breaking my stay-at-home status. It raised my confidence which was so low after being out of work for so long. I could choose which courses I wanted to do, picking ones that were within school hours. It enabled me to meet people in my community and to find out a lot more about the challenges the country faces in tackling obesity. 
I was lucky, I didn't fully rely on the contract and most importantly it was non-exclusive - I was able to work at other jobs too. 
I loathe the zero hours, exclusive contracts that treat people as a commodity and hope that the government will do something about them. But as with all things currently, I have very little faith that the government will do anything about it.


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