Silverfish
I will try to respond in a civilised manner.
Yes there are people who have a second earner in their family. Yes there are student's who work between lectures or during their summer vacation. Don't a lot of us GN's have our own kids or grandchildren who did or are doing the same? Why souldn't they, does that mean in your view they are not entitled to to do so.
I stick to my view that zero hours do work for some people but I did say in paragraph 2 of my previous post this has become a problem in more and more cases and does need looking into.
My husband had a zero hour contract when he retired, he drove lorries for a haulage company. He did not want a contracted job as he wanted to pick and choose if and when he worked. It suited him and his employer knew they could ring and ask him to see if he was free, rather than use an agency driver who was not as good.
My father had wonderful care assistants. Some of the girls did not want to be contracted to hours of work as they wanted to work around their family commitments. The company were always asking them to take on more hours. If they had been forced to take on a contracted hour job they probably would have jacked the job in and the company would have struggled even more to get good staff and meet it's commitments to those in their care.
I have never ran a business but I am not so stupid as to know wages have to be taken into account for a business survive. The cafe in Dawlish, the Pub in Weymouth etc. have a footfall in the summer months but then trade vanishes for months on end, it has to be able to employ staff accordingly. If pressure was put on them then yes I do think a lot of businesses will opt for closing.
Zero hours contracts are not knew. Most councils have had zero contracts for years, even the Green's in Brighton, they have been called hypocrites for saying one thing but doing another.
I am not making light of your employment problems I assure you. I do not disagree with what you say. I am however playing devils advocate and pointing out that there are circumstances and people who want to continue to make their own decision as to when they work. Now that may be frustrating to you and your circumstances, not having that luxury but is that a reason to stop other's working under conditions they are happy with.