UK retailers accused of recruiting young shop workers without rights over Christmas
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Lush and Gymshark among chains using apps promoted by TikTok influencers to take on gig economy assistants lacking basic protections, say unions. Unions have accused high-street retailers of drafting in young gig economy store assistants without basic employment rights in the run-up to Christmas.
![[The exterior of an Urban Outfitters store]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/accd3801fa2471acf615990eedbd2d37d1d54b72/0_171_5123_3073/master/5123.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Observer has found large brands, including Urban Outfitters, Lush, Gymshark and Uniqlo, are recruiting “freelance” shop assistants through gig apps to staff their stores during the busy festive period. The apps are being promoted by youth influencers with hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers.
“This is a worrying new development,” said Tim Sharp, senior policy officer for employment rights at the Trades Union Congress (TUC). “It would seem absurd to most people that someone can do a job like working in a shop and not be entitled to basic legal protections. There is a big question mark over the employment status of these supposed freelancers.”.
Traditionally, shops have brought in agency workers, who are entitled to basic employment rights such as holiday pay, the national minimum wage and rest breaks, to cope with increased footfall in November and December. But some retailers are now hiring gig workers, who are not covered by most employment protections, as they are deemed in law to be their own boss.
Many of the gig workers are sourced from app-based platforms such as YoungOnes and Temper, which have registered thousands of UK-based freelancers in recent years. These platforms charge shops a flat fee for every hour worked by their pool of freelancers.
