The festival has issued a statement.

Glastonbury has responded to the accusations that it exploited hundreds of European workers on zero-hours contracts.

Reports claim that organizers employed people from across the continent to work as litter pickers, but as many as 700 of them were laid off after just two days’ work.

In a statement posted to its website yesterday (July 5), the festival denies any wrongdoing, stating that its “post-event litter picking team are all given temporary worker agreements for the duration of the clean-up. As well as being paid, they are provided with free meals and access to on-site facilities,” it adds.

It continues: “The length of the clean-up varies considerably from year to year, based largely upon the weather conditions before, during and after the Festival. This is something the litter pickers – many of whom return year after year – are made aware of in their worker agreements (which assure them of a minimum of eight hours’ work).”

Representatives for the festival claim that the post-festival clean-up operation was completed in substantially less time than previous years because 2017’s event “was an unusually dry one…Those who weren’t able to leave the site over the weekend were given further meals, plus assistance with travel to nearby towns with public transport links,” it adds.

Jeremy Corbyn meanwhile has weighed in on the controversy following his cameo at the festival, as the Guardian reports. The Labour leader appeared on the Pyramid stage at last month’s event, during which he gave an impassioned speech about employment rights.

Asked whether Corbyn would raise the issue of zero-hours contract with organizers next time he visits the festival, his spokesperson said: “He is happy to raise it right now…This kind of contract and these kinds of employment conditions are unacceptable.”

Asked whether Corbyn would boycott the festival in future, his spokesperson said: “Jeremy and the Labour Party have taken a very strong stand against the use of zero-hours contracts and the exploitation of migrant and other workers and we would take that view wherever it happened.”

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