Zero-hour contracts deserve to be binned

Now, I grant you there are bad employees out there, who if they died on the job, it would probably be in their sleep.

I HAD no idea such concepts as zero-hour contracts existed until the latest furore with fast-food chains and the Government's efforts to moderate them.

The notion of zero hours is disgusting. I am a great believer in working hard and being flexible.

I also believe that good faith, between employer and employee, plus a strong, robust attitude to work and reward go a lot further than what is written in your individual contract or collective agreement. Contracts aren't there to ensure you succeed. They are there to protect you as a benchmark of sensible and civilised employment in a modern society. Success is entirely in the hands of a motivated employee - and an employer who enjoys working with people's potential.

Thus the idea that you would sign up to a contract that suggests you make yourself available for certain hours, but you might not necessarily get them, is ludicrous. The Government is proposing to ban some of the most unfair aspects of these contracts, particularly the idea of employers expecting you to be available, but not committing themselves to a set number of hours.

Employment is a relationship and an agreement, not a situation where an employer lords it over workers who supposedly should be grateful for the crumbs on offer. It is also not a situation where employees have expectations that their bosses owe them a day free from adversity. As a team, tough days and easy days are tackled together.

Now, I grant you there are bad employees out there, who if they died on the job, it would probably be in their sleep.

There are also bad employers out there, out to screw workers as much as they can.

The problems come when someone has too much power, and zero-hour contracts feed on the arrogance of an employer who doesn't like or respect employees. In any case, how is such a contract even possible? Are you supposed to wait for a call? And what if you say no, can't make it?

An arrogant employer will immediately think: bad attitude.

Work is about knowing where you stand. I just can't envisage a scenario where zero-hour deals can work as a normal part of life - unless you're desperate.