{"id":13207,"date":"2017-09-06T17:15:38","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T16:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13207"},"modified":"2017-09-07T11:12:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T10:12:43","slug":"theres-tide-turning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13207","title":{"rendered":"‘There’s a tide turning’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From the House of Commons \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the plight of low-paid, insecure workers at PMQs<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to the streets of London to the sports retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warehouse in Shirebrook and many more towns and cities between, Sports Direct today (September 6) was in the national spotlight over its broken promises.<\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a year since Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last AGM, when the retailer, now infamous for its exploitative employment practices, said it had had a change of heart and would end zero hours contracts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Broken promises<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But exactly a year on, Sports Direct, under the auspices of owner and founder Mike Ashley, still keeps thousands of its workers guessing whether they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have any work from one day to the next.<\/p>\n

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Unite Community staged 30 demonstrations across the UK today demanding that Sports Direct keep its promises to end zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

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Dozens of campaigners gathered outside a Sports Direct outlet at London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s iconic shopping thoroughfare on Oxford Street, where they made their voices heard in defence of the retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers, who face not only zero hours contracts but low pay and a culture of management surveillance and bullying.<\/p>\n

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Most recently, Unite revealed that Sports Direct has been using touch pads with happy and sad faces to gauge worker satisfaction in its Shirebrook warehouse.<\/p>\n

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Unite understands that finger recognition technology is being used, with workers asked to touch a happy or sad emoji as they clock in to indicate whether they feel they are treated with respect. Workers pressing the sad emoji are called in for a meeting with management.<\/p>\n

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Unite Community member Jacqui Burnett (pictured below) was out supporting Sports Direct workers today because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intimately acquainted with zero hours contracts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she used to be on one herself.<\/p>\n

\"Jackie4\"

Unite community member Jacqui Burnett<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI never knew from one day to the next whether I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have family members who are also on zero hours contracts. People in insecure work need to be able to plan for the future. They should be able to have hopes and dreams just like everyone else.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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As Unite community members held banners, waved \u00e2\u20ac\u0098emoji\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 placards and yelled chants, while wearing ’emoji’ masks, they also had conversations with the public as they handed out leaflets.<\/p>\n

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Jacqui spoke at length with a passer-by, an electrician.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe wanted to know why we were here and I explained to him what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been going on at Sports Direct \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was shocked,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Jacqui said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSometimes people are so busy getting on with their own lives that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on at places like Sports Direct. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why actions like these are so important — to get the word out.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Young people<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite young member Joe, 29, (pictured below) who is also part of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hospitality and bar and restaurant workers branch, joined today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demonstration in support of young people especially, who form the majority of people in insecure work.<\/p>\n

\"Joe1\"

Unite hospitality branch member Joe, 29<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPrecarious, zero hours contracts affect so many people of our generation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn order to be able to live, especially in London, you need to have guaranteed hours, you need decent pay \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it should be a basic human right.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Joe believes young people need unions now more than ever before.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMost of my friends, those in their teens and twenties, work in hospitality or retail at some point. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re overrepresented in sectors where insecure work is rife. If we want to get our voices heard we have to organise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite young member Helen Pattison (pictured below), 26, agrees.<\/p>\n

\"Helen1\"

Unite young member Helen Pattison, 26<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening with the McDonald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strike and the Sports Direct actions today show that we [young people in insecure work] are not actually weak. We do stand up for ourselves. We just need to organise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Like Jacqui, Helen too has been on a zero hours contract before, which motivates her to now stand up for others on insecure contracts.<\/p>\n

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Bullying<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an unbalanced contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c employers have all the power,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey use it to bully people. They say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098If you really want your hours next week, you must go over and above what you actually have to do.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 You have to, for example, stay late unpaid.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI know someone who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t technically get sacked \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but they just stopped giving him hours which amounts to the same thing.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy (pictured below), speaking at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s London Sports Direct demo, told of the same bullying that Helen had experienced on a zero hours contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and at Sports Direct, this bullying can go to horrific extremes.<\/p>\n

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\"UNITEspeaker\"

Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen [have given] birth in toilets because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in fear if they go to prenatal appointments, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get sacked,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCarthy explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople have had heart attacks at work and turn up ill. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sacked if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re late; you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sacked if you talk too much.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is why we need a union in McDonald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, this is why we need a union in Sports Direct,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tide turning. We need to get behind a Labour party, and elect a Labour party so we can send these bad bosses a message \u00e2\u20ac\u201c enough is enough. Workers demand respect.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Get behind our campaign<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite regional Community coordinator David Condliffe said the union would not let up until Sports Direct changes its ways.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOne year on from its AGM we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here today again because Sports Direct has not honoured its commitments to put people on guaranteed hours contracts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still employing people on zero hours\u00c2\u00a0 contracts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 21,000 people who have no security in the world of work. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a contract for a phone; they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a loan for a car.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here today to challenge Sports Direct to do the right thing,” Condliffe added. “We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also asking the wider public to get behind our campaign, follow us on Twitter at #SportsDirectShame<\/a> and help us win this campaign.<\/p>\n

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“If we win at Sports Direct and we win at McDonalds, we win within wider society. We make the world of work a safe place, a secure place, and a happy place. When we get organised, we can fight together and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll win this.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Check out UNITElive<\/a> for more updates on Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

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