Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen business chief says zero-hour contract shake-up will ‘weed out rogue employers’

The McGinty's Group founder welcomes zero-hour contract review but says flexibility is still needed for some.

Allan Henderson, left, with Jillian Miller and Alan Aitken of McGinty's. Image: Kami Thomson
Allan Henderson, left, with Jillian Miller and Alan Aitken of McGinty's. Image: Kami Thomson

An Aberdeen hospitality chief has said the UK government crackdown on zero-hour contracts will help weed out rogue employers.

Allan Henderson, head of McGinty’s Group, says of his 250 staff, just a few have used zero-hour contracts and that has been at their request.

The plan to torpedo ‘exploitative zero-hours contracts’ is one of Labour’s flagship policies.

More than one million people in the UK are on a zero-hour contract, which mean employees are ‘on call’ for work and can be dismissed without notice.

Allan’s award-winning hospitality group is behind some of Aberdeen’s most popular venues, such as The Grill, The Silver Darling, and Under The Hammer.

One-sided flexibility?

He said: “Undoubtedly to get rid of the rogue employers who have been using zero-hour contracts to the detriment of their staff, I’m absolutely all for stopping that.

“I have no issue there.

“If you are a responsible employer, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Allan Henderson, director of The McGinty’s Group, left, with councillors Ian Yuill and Alex McLellan and Martin Widerlechner. Image: Aberdeen City Council

McGinty’s Group has also been chosen as preferred operator for the city’s £75 million revamped Aberdeen Market, which is currently under construction.

McGinty’s boss on ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts ban

Under proposed reforms in its Employment Rights Bill, currently at committee stage in parliament, government is addressing “one-sided flexibility” by banning exploitative zero hours contracts.

This includes introducing rights to:

· Guaranteed hours

· Reasonable notice of shifts

· Compensation for short-notice cancellation of shifts

· Day one protection from unfair dismissal

Nonetheless, Allan says government should be wary of wrapping businesses up in red tape with their alternatives.

He said: “They can give an element of flexibility that works.

“For example, people from Aberdeen who are at university outwith Aberdeen, when they come back for three or four weeks at Christmas, and they want to earn a few quid.

“They are not on our regular payroll, but if they want to get a few hours over that period we can do that.

“I have people who have worked with me for years, they’ve done their service and are happily retired.

“But they wouldn’t mind keeping their hand in and coming back for a few days over the course of the year.

“In my experience those who want the zero-hour contracts, it’s to suit them.”

No security for workers

Artist and carer Clive Ramage is on a zero-hour contract. He says there is very little upside for workers and welcomes the law change.

“I’m a full-time artist with a relatively good income from my art sales, but there’s no real long-term financial security there and it is almost impossible to get a mortgage,” he said.

Aberdeen artist and carer Clive Ramage welcomes the change to zero-hour contracts. Photo: supplied

“I took on part-time care work to balance this, but there’s still no job security, or sick pay because it’s zero hours.

“Hours can be changed or cut without notice, entirely at the whim of an employer.

“You can be employed today and unemployed tomorrow with no employment rights whatsoever.”

Better contracts attract better staff

Improving worker rights, especially in the care industry, will help attract better quality staff, says Clive.

“No security equals no staff commitment or loyalty to an employer,” he added.

“Zero-hour contracts don’t encourage the best people to apply for specific jobs (like care work) where it’s important to have the right people in those roles.”

Conversation