[The Guardian] Gig economy: ‘If you don’t work, you can’t eat’ – despair of the zero-hours workforce

Gig economy: ‘If you don’t work, you can’t eat’ – despair of the zero-hours workforce

Millions in precarious, low-paid work feel overlooked by the government in its aid package for a nation facing months at home

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Minicab driver Zubair Chaudhry used to pick up 12 or 13 passengers a day from Luton airport. Now he and the other 90 Addison Lee drivers working from the airport are lucky if they get two fares a day from the few flights that now land. “We are completely helpless,” he says. “We are working- class people. If we work, we can live. If we don’t work, we can’t live.”

They say they each have to pay £210 a week to rent their vehicle from Addison Lee, and cover their own fuel costs. “We are losing money at the moment – we have to put in cash from our own pocket to rent our cars,” says the 41-year-old. “We don’t know what to do. We don’t know how we are going to put food on the table for our families.”

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Source: Gig economy: ‘If you don’t work, you can’t eat’ – despair of the zero-hours workforce

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