Fast-food worker David Cannon has experienced the pitfalls of casual work. 

By Shane Gilchrist on Mon, 26 Oct 2015.

(Reprinted from the Otago Daily Times)

Labour Day may be less of a moment to celebrate hard-won workers' rights of the past, and more an opportunity to reflect on where they have gone. Shane Gilchrist reports.

It's been a few years since David Cannon approached his bank for a loan so he could pay for repairs to his car yet, clearly, the episode still rankles.

''I was on a zero-hours contract, so the bank refused me because I had no guaranteed income,'' the Roslyn KFC worker recalls, adding he had to ask his father to act as guarantor.

''I was 26. I had been working for Restaurant Brands since the age of 21 so that would have been five years of employment, but ...

''I worked up to 35 hours a week, but there were weeks where I'd only get 10 hours.'' 

A major survey of fast food workers in New Zealand has exposed the reality of “Zero Hour Contracts” for workers and some of the myths used to justify them.

Over a thousand fast food union members working for the major brands in New Zealand responded to Unite Union’s online survey, with nearly 700 giving detailed information on their working hours over the previous four weeks. That is the biggest response Unite Union has ever had to a member survey.