McDonald’s, KFC. Burger King… New Zealand’s fast food giants have one by one been scrapping their zero hours employment contracts in response to a campaign by the union Unite. Controversy over these types of contracts is rife in the country where neither salary nor working time is guaranteed and the government has promised to bring in legislation before the summer. However will the legal changes go far enough at a time when zero hours contracts are receiving such bad press?
“An historic agreement’. This is how Mike Treen, Unite’s National Director presented the text that was signed on April 30 by both the union and McDonald’s. The fast –food chain has decided to scrap its use of contracts that guarantee neither minimum pay nor hours. From October the fast-food giant will take into account the average number of hours each employee in New Zealand has worked over the previous three months and it will then guarantee monthly hours equivalent to 80% of the initial calculation with a maximum of 32 hours per week.
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