McOffer to 115000 , zero hours staff

Chain claims staff don’t want guarantees

FAST food giant McDonald’s is to offer all its zero hours contract staff in the UK guaranteed work Workers can opt for contracts giving them at least four hours of work a week. But the burger chain claims most employees will snub the change and stick with the zerohours set-up. McDonald’s, which employs 115,000 British staff, is one of the country’s biggest users of zero-hours contracts. It announced plans to begin trialling ‘fixed hours’ contracts a year ago. Starting with 23 restaurants, the idea was later expanded to 50. It yesterday announced the move is being applied to all of its 1,270 outlets in the UK. The company reckons 80% of staff in the trial chose to stay on what it calls ‘flexible’ contracts. There is no pay difference between flexible and fixed deals. The firm refused to say how much staff got, claiming it varied a lot. But it confirmed workers aged 16 and 17 were paid an average of £5.30 per hour.

Paul Pomroy, McDonald’s UK chief, said: “The vast majority of our employees are happy with their flexible contracts, but some people have told us that more fixed hours would help them to get better access to some financial products.”

A record 905,000 workers are on zero-hours contracts, despite unemployment falling to a 42-year low. The figure is up by 101,000 in a year and represents 2.8% of all workers.

It came as the TUC warned that by the start of 2022, 3.5million people could be in insecure work such as zero-hours contracts, temp or agency work, and low-paid selfemployment. That’s 290,000 more than now if trends continue.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Paying rent and bills can be a nightmare when you don’t know how much you’ve got coming in each month.”

McDonald’s move came as it revealed sales in the UK had grown for the 44th quarter in a row, or 11 straight years.

Global sales rose 4% in the three months to the end of March thanks to booming demand for its All Day Breakfast, with profits up 14%.

Takings outside the US rose 2.8%, with the UK up more than that.

Steve Easterbrook, the British-born head of McDonald’s, said: “I’m confident we’re on the right path.”