Harkin backs Corbyn's '˜Zero-Hours' stance

Mr. Harkin said that if elected he would take his seat in Westminster and join the Labour leader in voting “to outlaw their use.”

Shaun Harkin said: “Nearly one million workers in the UK are now trapped in jobs where there are no guaranteed hours.

“How can workers have any kind of security or know how they will pay their bills if they don’t know how many hours they will work from week to week?

“Corbyn is right to stand up to employers who are only interested in profit no matter what the impact is on working class people.”

Across the north, nearly 30,000 workers are on zero-hour contracts,” Mr Harkin claimed.

“Bosses are using this practice and other so-called ‘flexible’ forms of employment to drive down wages. A study found zero-hour contract workers earned 1,000 less than someone doing the same job. Flexibility for employers equals insecurity, anxiety and poverty for workers.

“By failing to outlaw their use Stormont parties once again failed to stand-up for workers’ rights.”

He added: “People Before Profit supports the Derry Trades Union Council motion to the Council calling for zero-hour contracts to be outlawed here as they have been in New Zealand. If it can be done there, it can be done here.”