Those very same people who now find themselves on zero hours contracts can have no complaints. They can simply do what most rational people would do......upsticks and go and work for someone with better t and cs
What happens when every job is like that, as it has been accepted as the norm? What happens when someone ups and leaves and some other poor sod takes the job and gets fleeced instead?
Oh, wait, simply don't take any such jobs and remain unemployed instead - waiting for the companies to finally improve pay and conditions. Yeah, that's bound to happen. Or a company just keeps less staff, doesn't fill the vacant posts, and squeezes the remaining employees dry.
I go to Tesco in the evening and they turn off the scan and go machines hours before the advertised time because, for almost every single visit I make, there's one poor sod left on his own to cover every till. He can't cope with dealing with scanner issues, or random checks, so has no choice but to turn it off. You can see every time how stressed he looks, and if he went then what happens then? Maybe pull someone away from stacking the shelves to help, and just make the remaining staff work that bit harder..
This race to the bottom is picking up pace all the time. It's a far cry from introducing self checkouts and promising there would be no job cuts, and one worker covered 2, then 4, then 8 tills and now all of them. But, hey, nobody was sacked - they just don't hire anyone to replace those who finally say enough is enough.
Will Tesco up wages and fill all posts? Or will they seek to change conditions and drive down pay further? Fire and rehire perhaps?
As I've said before, these rail strikes must work for others to get a chance at better pay and conditions.. and it's also why the Government has such a big incentive to let them drag on in the hope that people will turn against the unions, pass new laws to make unions toothless, and then crack on with eroding worker rights even further.
Higher wages for all? Who ever believed that? Even lorry drivers who scored a few bonuses won't enjoy the extra money for any longer than necessary. Once the numbers are up to a suitable level, it will be everyone having to compete with each other as it was before.