article_snippet.sent: Labour's efforts to fight off accusations of hypocrisy on zero-hours contracts were in chaos last night.
article_snippet.sent: Party chiefs had scrambled to shore up support for Ed Miliband after it emerged that dozens of Labour councils and MPs employ staff on the controversial contracts, which Ed Miliband has pledged to ban.
article_snippet.sent: In a further blow, Parliament’s expenses watchdog rejected claims by Labour MPs that Labour MPs employ staff on zero hours only because Labour MPs are forced to by the Westminster system.
article_snippet.sent: And Labour’s biggest donor Unite also lost a humiliating tribunal ruling over an employee who claims he was sacked for complaining about being employed on a zero-hours basis.
article_snippet.sent: On Wednesday, Ed Miliband vowed to end the ‘epidemic’ of zero-hours contracts – and blasted the Tories for failing to protect ordinary workers.
article_snippet.sent: But Ed Miliband was accused of ‘total hypocrisy’ on the issue after the issue emerged 68 of Ed Miliband MPs – including Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls – had employed staff on that basis in the past two years.
article_snippet.sent: Labour councils, including Ed Miliband own authority in Doncaster, have also issued 22,000 of the contracts.
article_snippet.sent: The fact still remains that the epidemic of zero-hours contracts are a symbol of the failure of this Government’s economic plan.
article_snippet.sent: Party chiefs  scrambled to shore up support for Ed Miliband after it emerged dozens of Labour councils and MPs employ staff on zero-hour contracts .
highlights_snippet.sent: Ed Miliband accused of ‘hypocrisy’ after 68 MPs used zero-hour contracts .
  