Are you working today?

Zero-hours contracts in the news at the moment due to Labour having somewhat demonised them as part of their pre-election strategy.  So - good or bad?  Or both?? Three of my grandchildren are currently doing work on a zero-hours basis, and they find it a useful way of earning some money whilst continuing at school, or in one case University.  Nothing new there - kids have been doing "Saturday jobs" or "holiday jobs" since forever - calling them zero-hours contracts doesn't alter the basic idea. Of course if you're an adult working to support yourself - or even more so, a family - things might look very different.  But as one such said to me recently "A zero-hours job is better than no job at all".  And yet someone else retorted "At least on the dole you have a regular 'income' - there's nothing worse than not knowing when the next pay packet will be or how much it will be".  So there's two different viewpoints. What I do think is bad is when employers take people on on a zero-hours exclusivity contract - where you can't do work for anybody else and where when they want you to work you are bound to comply or get the sack.  That I think goes too far and I would be in favour of outlawing those, but otherwise I wouldn't interfere - it's a matter for individuals to decide for themselves if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, or vice versa.