For some years Camden UNISON has been raising the plight of Camden’s casual workers, essentially on zero hour contracts. Over the last year we have been working with HR who have been moving many of these workers on to permanent contracts, and we have negotiated pay increases for long serving casuals in the sports service.
We have met with HR on numerous occasions since 2011 to try to improve the situation for Camden’s casual (often called “sessional” workers). And so we welcomed it when HR began the process of moving a significant number of casual workers in the sports service onto permanent part-time contracts.
However we believed that the long service of many of these members (some with over 10 years’ service) should be rewarded by starting higher up the incremental scale. UNISON members stuck together for a better deal, enabling UNISON reps to negotiate an improved offer starting one incremental point higher and moving to the second incremental point very rapidly: worth up to over £1500 per year, pro rata.
We look forward to working further with HR to move more casual staff onto contracts. If you are a casual, sessional or zero hour contract worker in Camden, join UNISON today and contact John Shepherd (john.shepherd@camden.gov.uk) for more information.
We are also raising claims for unpaid annual leave for these casual workers and will report back on their progress.