Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley has welcomed the announcement that Sports Direct will end their use of zero-hour contracts and will pay their staff above the minimum wage.
Bartley said that the company’s employment practises had exposed the ‘razor sharp edges’ of the gig economy and called on companies like Deliveroo, which has been accused of exploiting its workers, to follow Sports Direct by guaranteeing their staff more job security.
Bartley said:
“I’m delighted to hear that Sports Direct, who I named and shamed in my speech to Green Party conference last week, are ending their use of zero-hour contracts and will now pay their staff a better wage - although we will have to wait and see whether the working conditions in warehouses improve too.
“This kind of brutal employment practise exposes the razor sharp edges of the so-called 'gig economy', and this decision has not come a moment too soon.”
At the Green Party’s conference last week members voted unanimously in favour of a motion proposed by the new co-leader highlighting the exploitative nature of the gig economy and calling for greater action on insecure employment.
Bartley added:
“It’s time for companies like Deliveroo and Uber to follow suit by ending their use of bogus self-employment contracts and guaranteeing staff decent pay, sick leave and job security.”