Zero Hours Contracts - are Labour's pledges workable?

In his TUC speech on Tuesday Ed Miliband committed a future Labour Government to end the abuse of zero hours contracts rather than an outright ban on this worst form of casualised working. Lawyer Darren Newman examines the practicalities of proposals to ban these contracts in certain circumstances only and concludes it will be the legal equivalent of nailing a jelly to the wall:
http://darrennewman.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/eds-pledge-on-zero-hours-contracts/

A better answer would be for Labour and Unions to embrace the proposals of Keith Ewing for employment contracts to have defined weekly or monthly hours, which guarantee to every worker a defined income each week or month:
http://www.leftfutures.org/2013/08/zero-hour-contracts-some-policy-proposals/

For more on the increased use of zero hours contracts in Britain read;
http://www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=WR&iss=1651&id=id136945