Miliband plans zero-hours crackdown must visit

Ed Miliband will detail plans to tackle the "epidemic" of zero-hours contracts in a speech in Scotland later.

The Labour leader will say workers with irregular shifts and pay should have rights, including a contract with fixed hours, if they work regularly for the same employer for a year.

Tackling the issue would be "harder" in an independent Scotland, he will say.

The Tories said the number of zero-hours contracts went up under Labour and they did nothing about it.

A government spokesman said it was analysing research on zero-hours contracts and would "respond in due course".

Zero-hours contracts allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work, only paying them for whatever hours they work.

'Evidence of abuse'

Speaking in Motherwell after a shadow cabinet meeting in Glasgow, Mr Miliband said: "Zero-hour contracts have spread like an epidemic across our economy.

"The government's own figures say they have increased three-fold since 2010 and some estimates suggest there are one million people on these contracts across the UK including at least 90,000 here in Scotland."

He will say the contracts can offer "short-term flexibility for employers and employees" but that most employers don't use them because they are "incompatible with building a loyal, skilled and productive workforce".

He added that Labour is determined to ban the "worst abuses of the system".

"It has left too many people not knowing how they will make ends meet from one week to the next, and unable to plan for the future," he will say.

Under Labour's plans, workers on zero-hours contracts would:

not be obliged to be available outside contracted hoursbe free to work for other employershave a right to compensation if shifts are cancelled at short noticehave "clarity" from their employer about their employment status, terms and conditionshave the right to request a contract with a "minimum amount of work" after six months with an employer - this could only be refused if employers could prove their business could not operate any other wayhave an automatic right to a fixed-hours contract after 12 months with an employer

Mr Miliband said this can "only be done across the UK", adding: "If Scotland left the UK it would be harder to end the abuse of zero-hours contracts either here or in what is left of the UK."

Labour asked Norman Pickavance, former HR director at supermarket chain Morrisons, to carry out a review into zero-hours contracts, and these plans are based on his recommendations.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the party was targeting "exploitative" contracts.

"One man's flexibility is another's insecurity", he said, claiming some workers were "scared out of their wits".

But James Sproule, chief economist for the Institute of Directors, said "flexibility" in the labour market was helping the economy to recover.

"Zero-hours contracts are one small part of a much broader flexible labour market", he said.

Zero-hours review

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said zero-hours contracts could offer "welcome flexibility" and the government would not "ban them outright", but there had been "evidence of abuse".

And Business Minister Matthew Hancock said: "We want to strike the right balance between flexibility for the businesses who create jobs and making sure there's adequate protection for employees. That's why we are carrying out a review into zero hours contracts."

A spokeswoman for Scotland's Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said the Scottish government had already acted on zero-hours contracts within its "limited powers".

He said Scotland was currently "waiting for Westminster action", but independence would allow a Scottish government to consider "issues such as zero-hours contracts" and "improve employment opportunities".

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Miliband to end devolution confusion/must visit

 29 March 2014 Last updated at 12:33 By Adrian Browne BBC Wales political reporter Ed Miliband was addressing the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno Ed Miliband has pledged a Labour government would clear up confusion over what the Welsh assembly can and cannot do.

He told the party's Welsh conference in Llandudno Labour would legislate so that powers are assumed to be devolved "unless specifically reserved".

Mr Miliband said it would be "bringing Wales into line with Scotland".

Labour's Welsh government was showing the difference the party can make, but it still faces NHS challenges he said.

It follows sustained criticism of the Welsh NHS's performance by UK Conservative ministers.

The plan to move to reserved powers for Wales was proposed by the UK government-appointed Silk Commission inquiry into devolution.

'Big challenges'

Mr Miliband said: "We all remember what happened when Wales tried to keep the agricultural wages board and protect vulnerable farm workers.

"It ended with the ridiculous spectacle of a Conservative secretary of state scuttling to the supreme court to try to stop the Welsh government ensuring fairness in agriculture.

Live stream of Welsh Labour's 2014 spring conference

"Well that is wrong, and under a Labour government it will never, ever happen again."

He said Labour in Wales had "big challenges to meet on the NHS, like better, early diagnosis and support for the older population".

But he added Wales had "half the A&E consultants" and the number of nurses was being "savagely cut back" when the Conservatives were last in charge of the Welsh health service.

Mr Miliband accused David Cameron of being "desperate" to talk about the NHS in Wales because of the "billions wasted" on a "top-down reorganisation" of the NHS in England "that nobody wanted and nobody voted for".

Later, First Minister Carwyn Jones will seek to "set the record straight" on the Welsh NHS, after Tory attacks on it.

He will accuse UK ministers of launching a "Tory war on Wales", putting investment in Wales at risk.

In his speech, Mr Jones will tell the conference: "Far from a Respect Agenda, we now find ourselves on the frontline in the Tory War on Wales.

Rail electrification First Minister Carwyn Jones argues Conservatives are inflicting "collateral damage" on Wales, to win votes in England

"Day after day we see attack after attack, on the NHS and those who work in it.

"On our schools, and on our teachers.

"On the Welsh language, on our economy, on devolution - on Wales itself."

Mr Jones will also focus strongly on the continuing row between the UK and Welsh governments over who should pay for electrification of rail lines in the south Wales valleys.

The Welsh government insists UK ministers agreed to bear the cost, totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, but the UK government says a deal was done for the Welsh government to foot the bill.

A senior Labour source told BBC Wales the party is now wondering if a "war of words" is developing into a situation where money from UK ministers for Wales is "drying up".

'Shared values'

The first minister is expected to aim the criticism in his speech entirely at the Conservatives.

With May's European elections looming, Mr Jones will issue a rallying call to supporters and activists.

He will say: "Wales has always been proudly European. We have always seen the very real benefits of being a part of a wider European ideal - with shared values and principles.

"Economically we cannot afford to leave and it's time we had a proper debate about the very serious consequences that withdrawal would have on the very fabric of Welsh life."

Labour believes the "constant" attacks on Welsh public services are angering party activists, encouraging them to go canvassing and making the slogan it began using at the 2011 assembly election, "standing up for Wales", highly relevant for this European poll.

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