{"id":8210,"date":"2016-03-23T14:39:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T14:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8210"},"modified":"2016-03-24T10:56:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T10:56:45","slug":"ashley-contempt-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8210","title":{"rendered":"Ashley: Contempt charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Billionaire Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley faces contempt of parliament charges if he now fails to turn up to face MPs on June 7.<\/p>\n

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MPs investigating mistreatment of his workers wish to question him on his \u00e2\u20ac\u0098draconian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 style working conditions.<\/p>\n

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The business, innovation and skills (BIS) committee have been trying to arrange a date for him to give evidence to them over allegations of widespread abuses at his company.<\/p>\n

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Committee chairman Iain Wright said they were still to receive a formal response from Ashely, who also owns Newcastle United.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBusiness leaders and others regularly appear in front of select committees when invited and we see no reason why Mr Ashley should expect to be exempt from the normal parliamentary process,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Iain Wright.<\/p>\n

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Ashley branded MPs \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a joke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and confirmed he will not give evidence in parliament about how his workers are treated instead suggesting MPs visit his Shirebrook warehouse.<\/p>\n

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MPs want to hear how Ashley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s internal review of working conditions for agency workers at the firm are progressing.<\/p>\n

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

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite has been campaigning tirelessly to improve working conditions at Sports Direct.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most recently there was a national day of action with 30 coordinated protests up and down the country while reps and activists handed in a 20,000 strong petition to the companies Shirebrook head office.<\/p>\n

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In September Unite members dressed in Victorian costumes to represent the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Dickensian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 working practices and targeted its annual general meeting (AGM) while more protests took place outside 40 Sports Direct stores.<\/p>\n

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Last December, Sports Direct was shamed in an undercover report into their Shirebrook warehouse.<\/p>\n

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The report echoes Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098draconian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 discipline policies that sees staff disciplined or fired for even minor occurrences.<\/p>\n

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The disclosures from the undercover investigation prompted the Institute of Directors to brand the company a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098scar on British business\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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Ashely says he will challenge the order and that the BIS committee only cares \u00e2\u20ac\u015babout the business of politics, while I actually care about the people at Sports Direct\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is the union for Sports Direct workers, and we hear every day direct from our members just how much Mike Ashley cares about his workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Luke Primarolo, Unite regional officer.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe cares so much about what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing every minute of the day that Sports Direct track their every move \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how fast they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working, how long they spend in the loo \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and shames them over a tannoy if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going too slow,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Hugely profitable<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sports Direct is a hugely profitable company which doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to subject its workforce to such shameful practices. Latest figures show a 7.4 per cent increase in gross profit to \u00c2\u01411.155bn.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMike Ashely cares so much about how comfortable his workers are that Sports Direct specify a list of 802 banned clothing brands for staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and searches them down to their underwear every shift,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Luke.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe cares so much about their work-life balance that Sports Direct keeps 80 per cent of their workers on zero-hours contracts, unable to plan their home and family lives from week to week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour MP Dennis Skinner, who described Ashley as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098monster of a man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, said Ashely \u00e2\u20ac\u0098believes, as a billionaire, that he can do as he likes.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

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Ashely has said his intention is not to attend Westminster on June 7 as he believes the proposal by Iain Wright MP is an abuse of the parliamentary process.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite, and our members working in Sports Direct want to see Mike Ashley appearing in London on the 7 June, and we want to see the government taking stronger action against Sports Direct,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Luke.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvery worker has the right to be treated fairly and with respect in their workplace. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Ashley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cowboy approach to running Sports Direct to stop,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ashely has claimed that the scrutiny of his company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s practices are damaging its sales at the expense of profit. Check UNITElive for more on this story.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For information on Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sports Direct campaign visit our website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billionaire Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley faces contempt of parliament charges if he now fails to turn up to face MPs on June 7.   MPs investigating mistreatment of his workers wish to question him on his \u00e2\u20ac\u0098draconian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 style working conditions.   The business, innovation and skills (BIS) committee have been trying to arrange a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[388],"wps_subtitle":"Sports Direct owner must face MPs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210"}],"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=8210"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8218,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions\/8218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}