The Cambridge Student Union (SU) has advertised for a new team of staff under zero-hours contracts despite previously supporting calls to abolish them.

The SU has claimed to “support the campaigning of the low-paid workers” on their website. The SU additionally continues to support the Justice4CollegeSupervisors Campaign which “advocates for supervisions to be paid fairly”.

The receptionists will be paid £12 an hour and have to be available from Monday to Friday.

This comes after the new Labour government’s plans to ban zero-hours contracts, claiming that they force millions into insecure work. In their general election campaign, Labour promised to strengthen workers’ rights within their first 100 days in office, including ending fire and rehire practices and zero-hours contracts.

Earlier this year, a report by the Office of Intercollegiate Services found supervisors are being paid an effective hourly pay rate £3 below the national living wage. The report was the largest of its kind, involving 35% of current and recent supervisors.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), claimed that banning zero-hours contracts should be a top priority despite economical concerns of business owners, stating: “I would challenge any business leader or politician to try and survive on a zero-hours contract not knowing from week to week how much work they will have”.

“It’s time to drive up employment standards in this country and to make work pay for everyone. The government’s forthcoming employment rights bill will help create a level playing field - and stop good employers from being undercut by the bad,” he continued.

The SU’s recent recruitment drive comes after previous statements supporting UCU strikes and their 2021 campaign for “a framework to eliminate the use of precarious contracts”, including zero-hours contracts. Statements supporting the removal of “precarious contracts” have since been removed from the SU website.

According to a survey by the opinion researcher Peter McLeod of 2,458 participants aged 16 and over in employment in Britain, 75% of participants on zero-hours contracts struggled to meet living expenses due to not being offered enough working hours, reports The Guardian.

The survey also records around two-thirds of workers on such contracts seek extra work. However, 58% of appeals for additional hours were denied by employers.

This comes after the Student’s Union faced a string of scandals last term, with two Sabbatical officers resigning, and former Postgraduate President Vareesh Pratap starting a hunger strike over the institutions alleged “corruption” and “bullying”.

Pratap also alleged that the SU’s Senior Management team had instigated “targeted harassment” against sabbatical officers from minority backgrounds.

A spokesperson for the Cambridge SU told Varsity: “The reception roles at Cambridge SU are designed with students in mind, providing them with an opportunity to earn alongside their studies and feedback from our current student-receptionist staff has suggested that the flexibility of the current contract helps to accommodate learning commitments, particularly during this busy period of exams, deadlines and placements.”

“All other SU staff are offered permanent or fixed-term contracts, in line with the UCU’s demands. We will continue to support Cambridge UCU and J4CS in their campaigns to improve working conditions for University and College staff.”