to think employers should stop abusing use of temporary contracts?

[mumnosGOLDisbest]

I'm on my 4th year on a temporary contract and DH has done 2 years through an agency in the same job. If an employer wants you for an indefinate period and long term then why not guve a permanent contract? They have you over a barrel. If you stand up for youself theres always someone else to step into your job: :(

Zero hour contract is where someone is contracted to work for a particular company, they're expected to be available for work, but they only actually get paid if they're needed to work.

So they can be hanging around for an 8 hour shift, but if it's quiet and there's only 30 minutes worth of work all day, they only get 30 minutes worth of pay.

I can't believe that is even legal!! How horrible is that??

I am 99% sure that if you are a teacher, temp contracts can only be given in certain circumstances otherwise they're illegal - they can only be used if a temp job exists, I.e. mat cover or something with only 1 yr of funding like a TA for a certain child. Otherwise if a permanent vacancy exists, you can't have a temp contract BUT if you are unqualified you can't be given a permanent one.

I had a job where I covered a mat leave and the head wanted me to be there permanently but wasn't allowed to offer a permanent contract as there were no vacancies. As soon as one came up, it was mine. There was someone else in the school who got offered a 1 yr contract as the school were desperate to fill a job but didn't think she'd be a good permanent prospect - basically they wanted her as a stop gap and they would re-advertise the job next year. She said no, permanent or nothing and they had to give it to her.

Like I said, in teaching, there HAS to be a reason for it being temp - mat/illness cover, limited funding, teacher not qualified. Otherwise it is illegal. Hope that helps.

I agree with so much of the ranting on here.
I am a long-term temp. in teaching.
Or I was until they told me 1 day before term started that they didn't need me anymore.
So now we're f*ed as I'm 19+ weeks pregnant and couldn't really get a job with the little bump showing, plus there are no jobs in my field as term has already begun.

Seemingly we have no rights whatsoever; I feel like 3rd class citizen.

0 hour contracts (yep, had one of those too) is where the employer gives you a contract, but only promises you 0 hours.
So, if there is less work available, they can give you just 10 hours and they've not done anything wrong. If there is more work, they can give you 30 hours or whatever.

My department has around 3500 members of staff but only about 500 of them are permanent. This is a huge organisation you will all have heard off and which regularly lays off permanent staff in other departments due to the "recession".

My department wants labour that is quick to train and if quality isn't good enough then they can get rid with no notice, they can't do this with permanent staff so they use contractors and temporary staff.

i work for the nhs we have what we call bank staff basically they are called in to do a shift if ward is short etc to be honest there does seem to be plenty of work and it fits in with some peoples lifestyle ie childcare they dont have to do a shift if not conveniant and they are not permanent so they can work around there own needs rather than a paticular wards needs.

The 0 hrs contracts are they:
Uk based
Do you have to be on site, even if there's no work for you?

I ask because I'm sure I read something similar about a fast food (chicken) place which made their employees clock on/off depending on if there was any customers in the shop. It was deemed illegal. If you have to be on site then you are at work and payed. I would ask in legal/union about that one.

I was speaking to my neighbour recently and she has just been given her contract after working in the same place for 2 n a half years she has just signed off from the job centre, a lot of my dds friends are on no contracts either

No hour contracts is where you get certain hours but it is supposed to be as and when required and they won't pin down to specific hours, my friends daughter works 30 hours a week on a 0 hour contract its madness,

My contract is worded carefully (NUT checked it last year) it is temporary dependent on the intake of children. I was employed during a 'boom' year but hence the wording but at the same time a permanent teacher left. Since then 3 perms have left and 3 temps have been employed. When budgets were cut they tried to get rid of us and make massive mixed classes without telling parents but unions were involved and those with more than 2 years were kept on. The school has always been 2-form entry and will be for the forseeable so mine ought to be permanent.
dieciocho have you looked at the wording of your contract and/or contacted your union. How many years continuous service have you given? I don't think they can do this especially at such short notice. They tried and failed with me.

YADNBU. It seems to be an epidemic at the moment. Sometimes no sick pay, no pension, no opportunity to buy a house or live in a way that other people take for granted. I've had a series of short term contracts and it's no way to live unless you're young and have no commitments perhaps.

mumnos I've been in touch with my union and was told that it looked like I'd been badly treated, so the union would look in to it.
I'm worried that the union won't be able to help me as I was taken on through an agency, rather than directly.

I've only got 1 year's continuous service under my belt.

I had 2 yrs so that might have made a difference. Were you covering a funding related period or specific cover that has ended? Regardless if you were expecting to go back you should have been given notice :(

mumnos no, not a specific period nor pot of funding. I don't want to sound petty, but I have a sneaking feeling it's..well, a personality clash or someone just doesn't like me or isn't impressed with my exam results this year (average compared with others in the dept.) or who knows...
But the very, very least they could've done is given me some notice and some feedback!

Right, that's it, I have to move on. This gloomy feeling can't be good for my bump.

Yes my OH has been on 'Agency' for two years now. One employer did pay holiday pay but was renowned for messing their employees artound

Last year he went to work for someone on a three months contract supposedly ending November. He was then offered, from another company he had worked for, three months until 26th December so took it.. We expected it to finish after Christmas so were prepared for this, then they said would extend the contract to February, then a week later laid off all the contractors 2 weeks before flaming Christmas

Luckily he went straight back to the original company and is still there now. No holiday pay though which is a pain. He is just about to start a job for a very big employer but still through an agency, though we have heard they tend to use agency then take on full time.

The not being able to get credit etc is a pain.

oldraver your dh sounds like he had a very simlar experience to mine. He too was laid off before xmas. It wasn't a big online shopping and delivery company was it?
dieciocho you do right to be positive but don't give up eithet. Best of luck!

LtEve if your relatives are in the UK there are several laws being broken there. Everyone is entitled to holiday pay, temp or otherwise.

I am a teacher and have been bitten before.
NQT year - one year contract. At the end of the year I had to apply for my own job and surprise, surprise, it went to another NQT. Most embarrassing.

I've recently moved 220 miles for the job of my dreams, which I was so pleased to get. Permanent, the ad said. On interview day the head announces that it's just standard practice for the governors to make the post one year in the first instance then extend to permanent from there. It wasn;t an easy decision to make, totally uprooting with the possibility of being unemployed after a year. Luckily, all is going great so far, touch wood!

I've been an agency worker working in the same company (telecoms) for the past 8 years. I do exactly the same job, work exactly the same hours for half the money as the 'permanents'. I also don't get sick pay which at the moment I feel I really need.

My doctor wanted to sign me off this morning but I begged him not to as I can't afford to be ill. He did write me a prescription for antidepressants though. Fingers crossed in a few weeks I'll start feeling better!

i though agency staff after 13 weeks had the same rights as employed staff

I thought agency staff had the same rights after 12 weeks. I know it caused a big kerfuffle in my work last year.

I eventually found this information

We're entitled to the same 'basic' pay. The company I work for reduced their basic pay just before the new agency rights came into affect. So now, whilst i'm 70p an hour better off, i'm still paid significantly less than people employed direct. I also get the same holiday entitlement, which is a welcome bonus. Agency workers don't get sick, maternity, paternity, redundancy pay though.

Where I used to work (at a uni) they used to employ people of fixed-term contacts Oct-June then making them redundant over the summer vacation. So one had more than 9 months service.

But this was chalenged by the union and they all got continous service from the first contract and they ended up having to make lots of the permenant as they had been there more than 4 years.

My XH is in the 2nd year of a temporary contract - welcome to Britain 2012 where there are a small number of 'haves' and the 'have-nots' are slaves.

It has to be continuos employment to get the rights. So they break it up by not needing you for a week or two!