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No. 821 Friday 27th January 2017 varsity.co.uk
Championing independent student journalism in Cambridge for 70 years
(PHOTOGRAPH: QIUYING LAI)
Revealed: May Balls caught offering workers below the minimum wage ● Committees overlooked pay for training, and changes to the law ● Jesus changes advertised contract following investigation ● No May Week event currently offers above the Living Wage
Monty Fynn and Tom Richardson Investigations Editors A Varsity investigation has found that employment contracts advertised on both Jesus and Trinity May Ball websites would, in terms of real hours worked, pay below the National Minimum Wage of £5.60 per hour that will come into force this year. May Balls take place at the end of Easter term and offer students a chance to enjoy themselves after the stress of exams. They come with a hefty price tag, with the most expensive tickets last year selling at £380 for a pair. But for many, they are an opportunity to earn some much-needed money at a University that normally discourages students from working during term-time.
Trinity’s May Ball website advertised a lowest wage of £61.05 for eleven hours work, equivalent to £5.55 an hour, while Jesus offered £70 for a ten hour shift with two unpaid thirty minute breaks. As rest breaks are not legally included in working time, this was equivalent to £7.77 per hour for a nine-hour shift. However, the employment description on Jesus’ May Ball’s website required workers to attend a two-hour training session, and arrive at the Ball three hours before their shift “for sign-in, a walk-through of the grounds, briefing, training, and to help in the final set-up for the ball”. When this time is included, the hourly rate offered would fall to £5 per hour. Varsity has seen employment contracts suggesting it is standard practice at a number of May Balls to require work-
Hourly wages Varsity found:
£5.00 Jesus
£5.55 Trinity
£5.60 Sidney Sussex
ers to arrive early for their shift. Advice on the government website suggests time spent “training and travelling to training” must be paid for, as well as time spent “at work and required to be working, or on standby near the workplace. Under these terms Jesus’ contract would be in breach of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. Trinity’s £5.55 wage is equivalent to the current minimum, but will not be in time for the Ball in June, even if contracts are signed before the rise to £5.60 coming into force in April. Zoe Adams, a PhD candidate at Pembroke College specialising in labour law, told Varsity: “It is not legal or moral to pay them less than the April 2017 rate even if they sign the contract now”. Continued on page 4 ▶