Union slates gig economy
GMB says workers suffer stress
PRIME Minister Theresa May and big business received a bashing from trade union GMB yesterday after it revealed that 10 million Brits were in insecure employment causing severe damage to their financial and mental wellbeing.
The GMB, which is holding its 100th congress this week, released a report which revealed that nearly a third of the UK workforce are in “precarious employment” – those in the gig economy, on zero or short-hours contracts, temporary workers and the underemployed.
The GMB added that it had polled a thousand of these workers about their finances and priorities. They found that 61% had suffered stress or anxiety as a result of their current job and had been to work while unwell for fear of not being paid.
Just over a third, 35%, said they would struggle to cope with an unexpected bill for £500, such as a car needing repairs or a washing machine needing to be replaced. Also, 69% said their cost of living was rising faster than their earnings.
Firms such as Uber and Deliveroo have come in for criticism in the past over their employment contracts.
GMB general secretary Tim Roache said that businesses keeping their workers in insecure positions to just help their bottom line was “hurting workers and the nation”.
He said: “Employers and governments put the flexible labour market on a pedestal, but that flexibility is for employers to exploit, not the flexibility our members need for childcare, to look after elderly relatives or to get a decent work-life balance.”
He also blasted Theresa May’s manifesto pledges to roll out the greatest expansion of workers’ rights of any Tory government
“Forgive my scepticism,” he said. “This from a Prime Minister who wants to nick your house to pay for care costs if you get dementia.”
A report into the gig economy by former Tony Blair adviser Matthew Taylor is expected later this month.