{"id":13224,"date":"2017-09-07T11:11:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T10:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13224"},"modified":"2017-09-07T18:06:45","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T17:06:45","slug":"hellawell-out-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13224","title":{"rendered":"Hellawell out call"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Almost half of Sports Direct shareholders voted to oust controversial chairman Keith Hellawell over failures to improve working conditions, as Unite carried out nationwide protests<\/a> yesterday (September 6) against the firm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a vote at Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s AGM, held at the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infamous Shirebrook warehouse site, 47 per cent of shareholders opposed his re-election.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hellawell, who used the AGM to attack critics of Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of exploitative employment practises, has now been saved three times by owner Mike Ashley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block vote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite East Midlands regional officer Luke Primarolo said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHellawell survived as chairman by the skin of his teeth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe vote shows the strong feeling of discontent amongst shareholders about how the company is run at board level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time Sports Direct stopped acting as if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s business as usual and creating an illusion that everything is ok \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the reality is it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Time for a change’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for a change of chairman and for how the workforce is treated.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the AGM, which was attended by Unite representatives<\/a>, Hellawell brushed off the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s broken promises<\/a> to offer its store staff guaranteed hours instead of zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe say casual workers, you say zero-hours contracts. It is still a legal form of employment in this country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile that still is a legal form of employment we will choose if we wish to continue with that form of employment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA very large proportion of our workers are happy to maintain that flexibility.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Investors at the AGM called for an independent inquiry into Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment practises \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which have been described as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bVictorian<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to try and improve the firms plummeting stock value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Sick to death\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the pressure, the demand was rejected by Hellawell, who said he was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsick to death\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of negative reports about the company.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to keep its word on zero-hour contracts just piled more bad publicity on the company, however.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Parliament today, Jeremy Corbyn used Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Questions to condemn the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behaviour and asked Theresa May to do the same.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He told MPs, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sports Direct annual meeting, Mike Ashley personally pledged to ban the use of zero hours contracts in his company.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA year on, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still exploiting insecure workers with zero hours contracts. Will the Prime Minister join me in now demanding that Mr Ashley honours his words and ends zero hours contracts in all his companies?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May avoided mentioning Sports Direct<\/a> by name, instead stating that the Tories taken action over zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary, Steve Turner said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheresa May had the chance today to tell workers loud and clear that the Tories condemn the abuse at Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe not only failed to take that chance she refused.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tory party \u00e2\u20ac\u201c never on the side of working people will be on the wrong side of history for we will win justice for these workers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost half of Sports Direct shareholders voted to oust controversial chairman Keith Hellawell over failures to improve working conditions, as Unite carried out nationwide protests yesterday (September 6) against the firm.   In a vote at Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s AGM, held at the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infamous Shirebrook warehouse site, 47 per cent of shareholders opposed his re-election. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[388],"wps_subtitle":"Nearly half of Sports Direct shareholders vote for his exit","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13242,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224\/revisions\/13242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}