Zero hour contracts - what Miliband had to say

So, Ed Miliband has now delivered his speech to the TU Congress.  Much of what he had to say on zero hour contracts had already been trailed across the media over the last few days but he did confirm

So, Ed Miliband has now delivered his speech to the TU Congress.  Much of what he had to say on zero hour contracts had already been trailed across the media over the last few days but he did confirm in his speech today that:

• he would ban zero hour contracts which require workers to work exclusively for one business;


• he would stop zero hour contracts which require workers to be on call all day without any guarantee of work; and


• he would end zero hour contracts where workers are working regular hours but are denied a regular contract.

The suggestion is that any proposal would include giving anyone working for a single employer for more than 12 weeks on a zero hour contract the automatic right to a full time contract based on the average time worked in the 12 weeks. 

This proposal has been seen as a conciliatory measure to the unions and is likely to be included in the Labour manifesto for the next election.  The question now is whether any of these proposed changes will be picked up by the Coalition Government before the next election.