Gaming

There is legitimate use cases for a zero hour contract. The vast majority don't fit it.

If the zero hour contract minimum wage was £50 per hour, then it would be appropriate. This would still allow it to be useful to hire consultant, semi- retired experts and contractors and use PAYE, no additional companies, accountants etc. Very efficient and would only apply to employees with some power in the relationship with the business.

However, it's used to exploit minimum or low wage staff. The company takes all the flexibility it offers and uses it to bully the employee into accepting the hours the business wants. They do this by treating to cut hours if the employee doesn't agree. This makes it difficult to have multiple jobs to make up the hours.

Depends on the terms!

I work four jobs, all freelance, all paid sufficiently and all zero hour.

Suits me really well, as the work comes and goes between the different roles I've always got something to do.

It's the exploitation of them that's the problem. It's the way they're used to make people disposable and bypass employment laws that's the problem.

It's a bad thing, to be sure, but it's just not anything like slavery.

should be poofed out of existence

This means something very specific in the UK.