Glastonbury denies using zero-hour contracts at festival

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  • The festival's statement follows an Independent article accusing organisers of "exploiting hundreds of European workers" hired as litter pickers.
  • Glastonbury denies using zero-hour contracts at festival image
  • Glastonbury festival has denied media reports that it exploited employees hired to pick up litter at this year's event. An article in The Independent reported accusations of the festival "exploiting hundreds of European workers zero hours contracts." Glastonbury has now responded with an official statement that says they offered "temporary worker agreements" with an agreed minimum of eight hours' work. "In response to recent stories in the media, we would like to state that Glastonbury Festival's post-event litter picking team are all given temporary worker agreements for the duration of the clean-up," the statement begins. "As well as being paid, they are provided with free meals and access to on-site facilities." The statement continues: "The length of the clean-up varies considerably from year to year, based largely upon the weather conditions before, during and after the festival. This is something the litter pickers—many of whom return year after year—are made aware of in their worker agreements (which assure them of a minimum of eight hours work). "This year was an unusually dry one for Glastonbury. That, coupled with a fantastic effort from festival-goers in taking their belongings home, meant that the bulk of the litter picking work was completed after 2.5 days (in 2016, a very wet year, the equivalent period was around 10 days). All but a core crew of litter pickers were advised that there was no further work available after Friday (June 30th). Those who weren't able to leave the site over the weekend were given further meals, plus assistance with travel to nearby towns with public transport links. We'd like to thank the litter pickers for their work on the clean-up, which was—as always—hugely valued by the festival." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech at this year's Glastonbury festival in which he talked about workers' rights. Corbyn's spokesman told The Guardian: "Jeremy and the Labour party have taken a very strong stand against the use of zero-hours contracts, and the exploitation of migrant and other workers, and the spread of all manner of insecure agency working, and we would take that view wherever it happened. That goes not just for zero-hour contracts but other forms of exploitation—bogus self-employment, fake agency working and so on." Photo credit: Andrew Allcock
RA