{"id":6266,"date":"2015-10-13T15:48:37","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T14:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6266"},"modified":"2015-10-13T15:48:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T14:48:37","slug":"sports-direct-chief-in-the-dock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6266","title":{"rendered":"Sports Direct chief in the dock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Campaigners will be outside Chesterfield magistrates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 court tomorrow (October 14) highlighting Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098shameful\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 treatment of workers and poor corporate governance, as criminal proceedings start against the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief executive David Forsey.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe case, which is expected to be heard at Chesterfield magistrates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 court tomorrow, is the result of criminal charges relating to the collapse of Sport Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fashion retailer USC.<\/p>\n

 
\n49-year-old Forsey is accused of failing to notify authorities of plans to lay off warehouse staff in Scotland, around 200 of whom were given just 15 minutes notice by the USC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s administrator in January that they were losing jobs. The charges relate to an offence contrary to section 194 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.<\/p>\n

 
\nBrought by the UK Insolvency Service, the charges are part of an investigation into the conduct of the retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s directors and come amid mounting concern over \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Victorian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 work practices at Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.<\/p>\n

 
\nAccording to an investigation by BBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Inside Out<\/a>, ambulances were called to the site on 76 occasions over a two-year period, 36 of which included \u00e2\u20ac\u0098life-threatening\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 incidents.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe retailer has also come under fire for its use of low paid zero hour contracts and agency staff at the Shirebrook site where workers work in fear of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098six strikes and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rule.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnder the rule, workers can receive a strike for a range or \u00e2\u20ac\u0098offences\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, including taking too long in the toilet, chatting too much or being off sick.<\/p>\n

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Major concerns<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese criminal charges are the latest in a long line of major concerns over the conduct of Sports Direct, ranging from the retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poor corporate governance to its use of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Victorian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 work practices,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite regional officer Luke Primarolo.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA pattern is emerging where workers are held in contempt and low paid agency staff are subjected to working conditions more in line with a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Dickensian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 workhouse than a FTSE 100 company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warehouse,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSports Direct and its board need to clean their act up to avoid further controversies and continuing charges of being run like some \u00e2\u20ac\u0098back street\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 outfit.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe retailer needs to restore dignity and respect at work by paying the real \u00e2\u20ac\u0098living wage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and putting staff on permanent contracts,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Primarolo went on to say.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time too for the government to stop trying to make it harder for trade unions to stand up to abusive employment practices and employers, who seek to bend the law, by dropping its ideologically driven Trade Union bill.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has launched an online petition calling for an end to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098draconian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 working practices<\/a> and an end to Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reliance on zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaigners will be outside Chesterfield magistrates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 court tomorrow (October 14) highlighting Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098shameful\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 treatment of workers and poor corporate governance, as criminal proceedings start against the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief executive David Forsey.   The case, which is expected to be heard at Chesterfield magistrates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 court tomorrow, is the result of criminal charges relating to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[388,389],"wps_subtitle":"Unite slams \u00e2\u20ac\u0098shameful\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 treatment of workers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266"}],"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=6266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6268,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6266\/revisions\/6268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}