Zero hours schemes defended by councils
Hundreds of council staff in the Midlands are employed on controversial 'zero hour' contracts, the Express & Star can reveal.
Thousands more workers across the Black Country and Staffordshire are on 'casual contracts' where they are offered shifts as and when they are needed.
They are used for care home assistants, school caterers and marriage registrars.
Wolverhampton and Dudley councils have revealed they employ hundreds of workers on contracts where staff do not know how many hours they will be expected to work.
Other authorities have also admitted to using casual contracts – but say they are different as workers are not obliged to take on the shifts offered.
Business secretary Vince Cable is among those to criticise the use of zero hours contracts by big name employers such as Sports Direct, which has 20,000 staff on them. McDonald's and Cineworld also use them.
Critics say they leave staff not knowing how many hours they will work and what income they have. Wolverhampton City Council has more than 230 workers on them and Dudley Council has 130.
Dudley Council said zero hours contracts are used during 'planned peaks' such as in the summer when a rise in the number of marriages may quire more registrars.
Its finance boss Councillor Pete Lowe recently hit out at his daughter Amy's employer Spudulike after she went weeks without a shift on a zero hour contract.
He said today: "We regularly review their use and will make changes when we need to move to a more formal position. They are the exception, not the rule." The council also has 2,500 casual staff, such as cleaners, but there is no obligation on them to accept the work offered on a casual contract.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had one worker on a zero hours contract, which allows for 'flexibility'.
South Staffordshire Council has no workers on zero hour contracts but has 77 casual workers based at leisure centres and Baggeridge Country Park. Stafford Council also employs casual workers as do Cannock Chase Council and Walsall Council but none of them say they use zero hour contacts.
Transport authority Centro uses casual staff for surveys but on an 'as and when basis'.
