A campaign group has welcomed a council’s decision to furlough zero-hours contract workers at a museum.

Zero Hours Justice has praised Copeland Council for furloughing workers on zero-hours contracts at the Beacon Museum.

Earlier this month, the campaign group was contacted by 11 visitor hosts who found themselves without work as a result of the current national lockdown.

Zero Hours Justice wrote to the council, pleading the case for the workers, and a letter was later sent out to them saying that they would be furloughed.

The workers had been furloughed during the first lockdown between March and June and, during the second lockdown, work was still found for them, despite the closure of the Beacon Museum.

James Johnson-Flint, director for Zero Hours Justice, said: “It is great that Copeland Council has been flexible about furloughing its zero-hours contract workers. We have often found that employers, once they decide not to furlough, rigidly stick to their decision despite good arguments to the contrary and without any sense of obligation to the staff on whom they depend to provide services to the public.

“But the zero-hours contract workers at Beacon Museum should never have been put in the position of having to fight to be furloughed. There have been various government schemes to help employers support workers, including the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

“As soon as the third lockdown was announced, a local authority such as Copeland should have instinctively thought that it is a good thing to use taxpayers’ money to support its most-vulnerable workers.”

A spokesman for Copeland Council said: “We can confirm that Copeland Council has taken the decision to furlough a number of members of staff at The Beacon Museum, and this will be backdated. This decision has been welcomed by the team.

“In the first lockdown and now during the current one, we are one of the few local authorities in the country to use the Job Retention Scheme so that members of our staff who cannot work are not financially penalised by the restrictions.”

Zero Hours Justice aims to raise awareness of the stress caused by zero hours contracts and offers legal help to zero hours contract workers.

It also aims to change the law through strategic litigation and name and shame employers who mistreat zero hours contract staff.

The organisation is led by Ian Hodson, who is also president of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, and founded and funded by Julian Richer, the founder of Richer Sounds and author of “The Ethical Capitalist”.

For more information go to: www.zerohoursjustice.org