Matty_UK
30th July 2006, 05:19
I wasn't really sure where to post this, but this forum is the closest.
OK couple weeks ago I got this job in a Newsagent. (convenience store) It's a casualised labour kinda job, like I didn't give them my national insurance number or sign a legal contract or anything, so this for a start makes me unsure about my rights regarding this....
First problem, is they've basically got me on call; at first they said just to bear with them and they'll sort out some fixed hours for me. This was over 2 weeks ago-to sort out hours would take literally 10 minutes but my boss never comes into the store (he also owns a pub where he apparently spends all his time) and when he does he says he'll have my hours for next time I'm in. Till then, they ring me up the day before I'm next in or sometimes 2 hours before I'm due to be in. This is obviously incredibly annoying because I can't do ANYTHING. I want to go to London to meet some friends (including Additives Free incidentally) sometime this holiday, but I can't book a train if I don't know when I'm working-I also want to do my driving test, but I can't book that either. It's difficult to arrange to see my friends because I can only give them a few hours notice if I want to meet them, and there's a girl I've asked out but can't really find time to meet her, as I'd have to ask her to come meet me NOW all the time, which is inconvenient and unfair on her. So basically....it's really shit.
What makes it worse than that was I'm getting paid £4.10 an hour. Minimum wage for 18 year olds is £4.25 in this country-it's not far below minimum wage but for the amount of hassle they're giving me it's definitely not worth it. I told the deputy boss or whatever on friday to write down my hours, and she claimed I should already have hours and then in a tone of voice implying I was stupid looked at what hours I worked last week and told me I was working the saturday. So I dutifully went in, having to skip a Tyneside Community Action for Refugees meeting only to find I wasn't working then at all. I don't have a fucking clue when I'm working.
If there is a genuine reason why it's difficult for them to give me fixed hours, is it within my rights to demand higher pay-bearing in mind this is casualised work?
And if it's just them being lazy or incompetent, is there any action I can take about that?
(obviously, finding another job is what I'm also doing at the side so I can quit.....but it's difficult during the summer so I could be in this shitty job until past september)
OK couple weeks ago I got this job in a Newsagent. (convenience store) It's a casualised labour kinda job, like I didn't give them my national insurance number or sign a legal contract or anything, so this for a start makes me unsure about my rights regarding this....
First problem, is they've basically got me on call; at first they said just to bear with them and they'll sort out some fixed hours for me. This was over 2 weeks ago-to sort out hours would take literally 10 minutes but my boss never comes into the store (he also owns a pub where he apparently spends all his time) and when he does he says he'll have my hours for next time I'm in. Till then, they ring me up the day before I'm next in or sometimes 2 hours before I'm due to be in. This is obviously incredibly annoying because I can't do ANYTHING. I want to go to London to meet some friends (including Additives Free incidentally) sometime this holiday, but I can't book a train if I don't know when I'm working-I also want to do my driving test, but I can't book that either. It's difficult to arrange to see my friends because I can only give them a few hours notice if I want to meet them, and there's a girl I've asked out but can't really find time to meet her, as I'd have to ask her to come meet me NOW all the time, which is inconvenient and unfair on her. So basically....it's really shit.
What makes it worse than that was I'm getting paid £4.10 an hour. Minimum wage for 18 year olds is £4.25 in this country-it's not far below minimum wage but for the amount of hassle they're giving me it's definitely not worth it. I told the deputy boss or whatever on friday to write down my hours, and she claimed I should already have hours and then in a tone of voice implying I was stupid looked at what hours I worked last week and told me I was working the saturday. So I dutifully went in, having to skip a Tyneside Community Action for Refugees meeting only to find I wasn't working then at all. I don't have a fucking clue when I'm working.
If there is a genuine reason why it's difficult for them to give me fixed hours, is it within my rights to demand higher pay-bearing in mind this is casualised work?
And if it's just them being lazy or incompetent, is there any action I can take about that?
(obviously, finding another job is what I'm also doing at the side so I can quit.....but it's difficult during the summer so I could be in this shitty job until past september)