In 2015, brewing giant Greene King took over ownership of the Spirit Pub Company (Spirit), including its 16,000 workers, the majority of whom were, and are, engaged under zero hours contracts.

A zero hours contract is a contract for casual working, under which the employer does not guarantee to provide the worker with any work and pays the worker only for work actually carried out. The worker is expected to be available for work when or if called on by the employer although the term can be used to describe situations both where the worker is free to accept or refuse work when it is offered, and where the worker is not given such a right of refusal. Whether or not the person engaged under a zero hours contract is, in fact, a worker or an employee will depend upon the wording of the contract but also, and more importantly, how the relationship actually operates in practice.

At the time of the purchase of Spirit, Greene King had already moved all of its staff away from zero hours contracts. It now intends to do the same in relation to the Spirit staff. This means that thousands of staff at household names such as Chef & Brewer and Wacky Warehouse will, over the course of the next year, be guaranteed a minimum number of hours' work. This follows on from similar announcements across various sectors, with the Everyman cinema chain also confirming that it will be following the example of not only Greene King but also Everyman's rival, Curzon Cinemas, and retailer Sports Direct.

Despite ongoing criticism of the use of zero hours contracts, they continue, however, to be widely used, particularly in the hospitality sector. In fact, data published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on 8 September 2016 suggests that zero hours contracts are now more widely used than ever. 2.9% of the people in employment that the ONS surveyed consider themselves to be engaged under a zero hours contract, with this percentage increasing steadily since 2010.

This means that 903,000 people are currently engaged under zero hours contracts and this is not always seen as a bad thing. The chairman of pub company JD Wetherspoon has said that when offered a choice between a zero hours contract and a contract guaranteeing certain working hours, two-thirds of his staff opted to move off zero hours contracts. However, in stark contrast, McDonalds has stated that when workers in three of its north-west stores were given such an option, over 80% of the employees opted to stay on their existing flexible, zero hours contracts. It continues to be the case, it seems, that whilst zero hours contracts may give rise to uncertainty and exploitation, they may also offer the flexibility which is desirable for certain employers and employees.

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