First Union general secretary Robert Reid, said that despite Unite Union’s win against zero hour contracts at McDonald’s, there is still a lack of security for workers.

“The issues of insecure work and insecure hours remain. Low contracted hours are just as common as zero hours and just as unfair and exploitative,” Reid said.

“In the retail sector workers are regularly kept on low hours. When new hours become available, retail employers often opt for new workers who are then put on low hours as well.”

Reid said First Union will enter negotiations with major retail chains this year, with winning secure and predictable hours to be a major focus for bargaining teams.

“Many of First Union’s existing collective agreements already implicitly preclude zero hour contracts, but recent law changes mean new workers who are employed at a workplace with a collective agreement may no longer be covered under that agreement for the first 30 days,” he said.

“The opportunity for an increase in zero hour contracts has just been created by the same government that says it will outlaw them.”

First Union says it is investigating reports that a major retail chain has used the new law to offer zero hour contracts at a site where the collective agreement implicitly precludes such provisions.