Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Okay. He said: "Throwing around terms like zero-hour contracts, which we do not and never have had, is deliberately divisive". However, if one speaks to the workers directly, as I did, it is a different story. Mandate has produced a copy of the contract on its website, which states: "Your normal hours of work are flexible as agreed with your manager, spread over up to 5 days between Monday and Sunday and may include late night and weekend work." There are no guaranteed hours and, in any normal language, that is a zero-hour contract. Imagine trying to plan life like that, when a worker only knows a few days in advance how many hours and what hours they are going to do the following week.

Zero-hour contracts are just one of many issues in that dispute. It is about low pay, the absence of a real payscale, the absence of a proper sick pay scheme, the absence of annual leave and the attempt to stop workers organising in their union. It is a vital strike.

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