Unions chide Edinburgh Napier over zero-hours job adverts

There is nothing wrong with zero-hour contracts per se. As a mutual agreement they can be a useful opportunity or option for people wanting flexible part-time or even just occasional employment ( portfolio career people perhaps. Or the semi-retired ). They are only a problem if they are abused eg used by employers to fill what are really long-term full-time positions . There could surely be a way to regulate them sensibly eg through upper limits on their length/time before a different contract should be offered - in that way getting rid of 'exploitative' versions but keeping them for where it is appropriate .

Surely university managers abusing their positions is a rare phenomenon, and likewise lecturers aspiring to teach in higher education would not accept to do so under chains. If the above conditions change, then there is something wrong with zero-hour contracts per se: they destroy the ethos of any College at question and degrade the standards of its life.