Jeremy Corbyn slams Glastonbury for alleged zero hour contracts

Despite making a high-profile appearance at Glastonbury last month, Jeremy Corbyn has attacked the festival and its organisers for exploiting workers from EU countries with zero hour contracts.

According to a report by the Independent, 700 workers hired from other EU countries were hired as litter pickers, only to be sacked after two days before the end of the festival. 

Corbyn's spokesman explained that, "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.”

In response to the allegations, the festival organisers said in a statement: “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 (30th June). 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.”