Night workers ‘need better deal’

The TUC has called for better pay and conditions for the 3.2 million workers who regularly work nights, after its analysis found that three in 10 (28%) of them earn less than £10 an hour.

Meanwhile, seven in 10 (69%) night-workers earn less than £15 an hour, roughly the UK median wage. This, it says, proves there is no “pay premium” for people working overnight, despite the disruption and heightened health risks involved.

The union body is proposing a new deal for night-workers, involving:

a £15 an hour minimum wage;

the introduction of sector-wide fair pay;

carers being paid for all their time on sleep-in shifts (care workers, totalling 460,0000, account for the largest number of night workers in Britain);

pay to reflect the costs of childcare and inconvenience that night shifts can entail;

legislation to ensure that workers always have sufficient notice of their shift patterns;

compensation for shift changes at short notice; and

employers to consider the health hazards of night working in risk assessments, and take responsibility for workers’ safety travelling to and from the workplace at night.

https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-3-10-night-workers-earn-less-ps10-hour