SCOTTISH trade union reps will declare war on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts today at the start of the annual STUC congress in Dundee.

Workers suffering on such terms have given damning testimony to the STUC and delegates will vote on a motion demanding action to stop the abuse.

Scottish affairs committee MPs have also called for them to be scrapped, with chairman Ian Davidson MP saying that “the overwhelming majority of zero-hours contracts are abusive and exploitative and should be abolished.

“Zero-hours contracts put workers in such a vulnerable position that they are unable even to assert their lawful right to the meagre benefits these contracts offer.”

And he warned that “zero-hours make blacklisting easy.”

About 85,000 people in Scotland are on the contracts.

The STUC motion condemns zero-hours and hours to be notified contracts as a “one-sided employment relationship in favour of the employer.”

It commits the STUC to campaign against them — including a ban “across the public sector and by any companies seeking publicly procured contracts.”

Care support worker Zahira told the STUC that zero-hours was the “worst contract I have ever had in my whole working life.”

She took the post because she couldn’t find another part-time job, but now believes that “I have less rights — it feels like I have no rights.”

She said: “I have been expected to work when I have been notified approximately 30 minutes prior to a shift.

“If I refuse the likelihood of being called again is very low — and this has happened, with no work over a period of two months.”

The Scottish affairs committee found that one in five workers on zero-hours contracts are paid less than their permanent equivalents doing the same job and that one in 20 are paid less than the national minimum wage, even although this is illegal.

“Thousands of social care workers are illegally denied payment for time spent travelling between appointments,” the MPs said.

The committee also heard evidence that some jobcentre staff are pressing people into taking work with no guaranteed hours and threatening sanctions if they turn the position down — or for trying to sign back on if the hours turned out to be insufficient.

Mr Davidson said both Westminster and Holyrood must use “every lever at their disposal to affect a cultural change” against exploitative contracts.