Glastonbury’s organisers have issues a statement following the 2017 iteration of the festival, to address reports that they used zero-hour working contracts to hire workers during the course of the weekend.
Taking place at the traditional Somerset venue of Worthy Farm, 2017’s festival saw Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters, and Radiohead headline what is unquestionably the UK’s biggest festival.
The Independent reported these rumours of zero-hour contracts after the weekend of the festival, claiming the festival’s organisers had “hired hundreds of workers from across Europe on zero hours contracts and then fired them after just two days.” The report claimed the the poor treatment of the workers extended in particular to the “700 people who were signed up as litter pickers expecting two weeks of paid employment” and had been “stranded and out of pocket in the Somerset countryside.”
Following a wildly successful appearance to a raucous crowd on the Saturday of this year’s festival, Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has spoken out, condemning those in charge of using zero-hour contracts.
Oh, Jeremy Corbyn, Oh Jeremy Corbyn Glastonbury crowds cheer the Labor leader as he delivers a political speech 25 Jun – 2017 pic.twitter.com/6j3jyTlNXL
— Sir Clyde Of Nob (@nobby15) July 6, 2017
Speaking to the Guardian, a spokesperson for Mr. Corbyn said “Jeremy and the Labour party have taken a very strong stand against the use of zero-hours contracts, and the exploitation of migrant and other workers, and the spread of all manner of insecure agency working, and we would take that view wherever it happened. That goes not just for zero-hour contracts but other forms of exploitation – bogus self-employment, fake agency working and so on.”
A story in the Independent says that Glastonbury festival hired workers on zero hours contracts, something Jeremy Corbyn wants to ban #Ridge pic.twitter.com/kJpRKBtmsc
— SophyRidge On Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 2, 2017
Following a wave of criticism for their use of zero-hour contracts, a formal statement has been issued on the festival’s official website, which reads:
“In response to recent stories in the media, we would like to state that Glastonbury Festival’s post-event litter picking team are all given temporary worker agreements for the duration of the clean-up. As well as being paid, they are provided with free meals and access to on-site facilities.
The length of the clean-up varies considerably from year to year, based largely upon the weather conditions before, during and after the Festival. This is something the litter pickers – many of whom return year after year – are made aware of in their worker agreements (which assure them of a minimum of eight hours’ work).
This year was an unusually dry one for Glastonbury. That, coupled with a fantastic effort from Festival goers in taking their belongings home, meant that the bulk of the litter picking work was completed after 2.5 days (in 2016, a very wet year, the equivalent period was around 10 days).
All but a core crew of litter pickers were advised that there was no further work available after Friday (June 30). Those who weren’t able to leave the site over the weekend were given further meals, plus assistance with travel to nearby towns with public transport links.
We’d like to thank the litter pickers for their work on the clean-up, which was – as always – hugely valued by the Festival.”
