We won’t let up

Pressure has mounted against Sports Direct, as Unite community and young members again escalated their campaign in Scotland at the weekend.

 
They took their message to thousands of football fans as the Rangers played against Kilmarnock in a fifth round game of the Scottish Cup on Saturday (February 6). Dropping their signature banner at the 18th minute, the Unite activists were strongly supported by Rangers fans.

Achieving maximum impact during a game that was played live on Sky, the stunt came in the wake of a similar campaign where Unite activists dropped the SportsDirectShame banner at a Newcastle game against Manchester United.

 
The strengthening campaign against Sports Direct aims to fight the controversial employment practices that the sports goods giant uses, including zero hour contracts, invasive employee searches, and ‘naming and shaming’ workers over a tannoy if they aren’t working efficiently enough.

Late last year the Guardian published an undercover expose of conditions at a Sports Direct warehouse and found that – because employees were being subjected to forced searches after finishing a shift and were not being paid for this time – their employer may illegally be paying workers below the minimum wage.

 
Unite’s young members explained why they were taking on Sports Direct.

 
“Sports Direct employment practices are horrendous,” said Unite Scotland youth committee Roza Salih.

“They have exploited workers and are taking millions of pounds a year at the expense of some of the poorest workers in the UK. This needs to be stopped and replaced with a transparent system which is based on income equality.”

 
Unite youth committee member and Renfrewshire council workplace rep added that the campaign goes well beyond Sports Direct alone – poor work conditions and low-pay across the board can blight entire communities.

“Low pay and zero hour contracts go beyond the workplace,” he said. It affects our local communities, too. When people have insecure jobs, they are not going to spend money to help other local businesses. This is a choice [Sports Direct boss] Mike Ashley has made to treat workers badly. He’s effectively saying his employees are disposable and not worth a decent wage.”

 
Unite regional community coordinator Jamie Caldwell said the day of action was “very successful”.
“We had an immense amount of support – over the last two weeks alone, during our campaign, we had more than 200 activists involved.

“On Saturday, the banner drop really helped get the message out there — that Scotland rejects Sports Direct,” he noted. “Next weekend there will be more actions against Sports Direct in the southern regions. We’re going to continue piling on the pressure, keep up the media campaign and continue organising Sports Direct workers.

 
Criticising Sports Direct workers’ recent “paltry” pay rise of 15p an hour as nothing more than a publicity stunt, Caldwell told the Herald Scotland, “Now we have [Mike Ashley] on the run there will be no let up.”