The Guardian view on employment law: an overhaul is needed | Editorial
Our report that a well-qualified academic once earned so little on his casual contract that he had to supplement it with a job as a refuse collector is confirmation that precarious work has metastasised from unskilled or elementary-level jobs to reach parts of the economy once considered the epitome of security. According to analysis of the official figures by the University and College Union, more than half of academics in Britain's universities, where students are paying 9,000 a year in fees, are employed on temporary or insecure contracts. They are recruits to a burgeoning class of workers, many of them described as self-employed, that make up the "just about managing". Ranging from agency workers in warehouses and care assistants to the top-grade professions, these are the people who Theresa May has pledged to put at the heart of her response to the Brexit revolt.
Related: Universities accused of 'importing Sports Direct model' for lecturers' pay
Related: More than 7m Britons now in precarious employment
Continue reading...