{"id":7138,"date":"2015-12-16T16:04:31","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T16:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7138"},"modified":"2015-12-17T11:34:53","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T11:34:53","slug":"tip-of-the-iceberg-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7138","title":{"rendered":"Tip of the iceberg"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following a damning investigation by the Guardian<\/em><\/a> into Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment practices, which found that the retail giant may be paying its workers less than the minimum wage, \u00c2\u0141400m was wiped off the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stock market value last week (December 11).<\/p>\n

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Now MPs have taken up Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call to have the HMRC investigate the retailer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s practices to determine whether they have run afoul of the law.<\/p>\n

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Chair of parliament\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public accounts committee, Meg Hillier, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said she would be questioning HMRC about how it investigates breaches in minimum wage law at a committee hearing in January.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think there is enough evidence from this good bit of journalism by the Guardian to go in there and I think there needs to be an investigation on that basis,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told BBC Radio 4\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s PM programme on Tuesday (December 15).<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese staff in these low wage jobs, in a company that sounds as though it is ruled by fear, will be afraid to come forward \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to do that in their own right. So I do hope that HMRC are already in there.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Roll-up your trousers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 command <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As UniteLIVE reported last week<\/a>, the Guardian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s undercover probe found that workers in a Sports Direct warehouse in Derbyshire were subjected to rigorous searches after they clocked out of their shifts. During these searches, workers were made to roll up their trouser legs and show the top of their underwear as part of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s zero-tolerance policy toward theft.<\/p>\n

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This process took roughly 15 minutes each day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c time for which workers were not paid. Adding to the fact that workers could have their pay docked for clocking in even one minute late, despite having arrived at the premises on time, the Guardian found that on average, warehouse workers were being paid \u00c2\u01416.50 an hour instead of the legally mandated minimum of \u00c2\u01416.70.<\/p>\n

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Business minister Nick Boles was forced to the Commons on Monday (December 14) after former shadow business Chukka Umunna called an urgent question, with MPs demanding that the HMRC step in and investigate Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

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After Unite contacted the HMRC requesting an investigation, the tax authority said it could only launch a probe after a worker had made a specific complaint \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but so far no Sports Direct workers have come forward, over fear of losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

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Unite regional officer Luke Primarolo said that Unite \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdoes not accept\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 this excuse from the HMRC, adding that there was enough evidence to justify an investigation.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf it is the case that the tax authority cannot investigate unless there is a specific worker complaint, then this needs to be changed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is unacceptable that the most vulnerable workers, who fear losing their jobs if they speak out, will have no remit to justice.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Primarolo will be meeting with a group of Labour MPs in Parliament today (December 16) urging them to take on Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

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Specifically, Unite will be calling on the Labour MPs to take three steps \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to write to business minister Nick Boles calling for an official investigation of Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s potential non-payment of the minimum wage;\u00c2\u00a0 to write to the HMRC head Lin Homer also calling for an official investigation; and to call on the Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS) select committee to further investigate Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s business practices.<\/p>\n

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Shares plummet <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sports Direct shares plummeted by 12 per cent last Thursday (December 10) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the worst day for trading for Sports Direct in two years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c making the company the worst performing company in the FTSE 100. The share slump cost Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley approximately \u00c2\u0141237m.<\/p>\n

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Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poor performance, on the heels of the minimum wage revelations, prompted usually reserved City figures to loudly criticise the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment practices.<\/p>\n

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The Institute of Directors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 director general Simon Walker condemned Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s practices.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately, the actions of Sports Direct will leave a scar on British business,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIoD members share the public\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outrage. At a time when the reputation of corporate Britain is on shaky foundations, another scandal is hard to stomach for the overwhelming majority of businesses that have integrity at their core.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Top shareholders, who have become increasingly frustrated with Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s treatment of its workers, also joined the litany of criticism against Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore this behaviour because it will come back to bite you,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 one shareholder told the Guardian. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not looking after your staff it will hit the share price in the end.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Primarolo noted that the Guardian revelations are likely only the \u00e2\u20ac\u015btip of the iceberg\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Sports Direct workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ill treatment possibly goes way beyond what was published in the newspaper last week.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe story also highlights the problem with precarious work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Primarolo added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile not unlawful, all Sports Direct staff work for agencies on insecure contracts. Agency workers have fewer rights and so it empowers unscrupulous employers to break the law.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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

Following a damning investigation by the Guardian into Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment practices, which found that the retail giant may be paying its workers less than the minimum wage, \u00c2\u0141400m was wiped off the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stock market value last week (December 11).   Now MPs have taken up Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call to have the HMRC investigate the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[388,389],"wps_subtitle":"Sports Direct revelations could be just the start","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138"}],"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=7138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7140,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions\/7140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}