Unions representing staff at Sports Direct’s main warehouse in Shirebrook have filed a pay claim asking the retailer to move thousands of zero-hours workers on to permanent contracts.
Unite, which represents just a handful of permanent staff at the site in Derbyshire despite having had a union recognition agreement in place for many years, said Sports Direct should pay staff the living wage of £7.85 an hour.
The formal claim outlines the benefits to the company from paying staff the living wage – a figure calculated to cover average personal costs by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. The figure is higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50 or the national living wage announced by George Osborne last month under which those over 25 will be paid £7.20 an hour from April next year.
The union’s action comes after Sports Direct announced a 20% rise in pretax profits to £300m in the year to 26 April, triggering share bonuses worth £155m to permanent staff.
While the company continues to successfully expand, it is facing anger over its treatment of its workers, including legal action from 300 staff who were excluded from the company’s generous bonus scheme because they were on zero-hours contracts.
Living wage campaigners aim to raise the issue of pay at the annual shareholder meeting in Shirebrook on 9 September. The Citizens UK and Share Action pressure groups have already spoken up at the shareholder meetings of Next, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S.
Sports Direct said: “Much of the comment around the group’s use of zero hours has been unfounded and inaccurate. The group complies fully with all legal requirements which relate to casual workers, including holiday and sick pay and freedom to gain other employment. Casual workers also benefit from general incentive schemes.”
In March, Sports Direct’s chairman, Keith Hellawell, told a committee of MPs that 14,700 people – about 78% of the retailer’s total staff including shop workers – were on “casual” contracts that do not guarantee a minimum amount of work. He said those staff worked an average of 15 hours a week.
In October 2013, the retailer was forced to make clear the limitations of such contracts to staff and to inform them that they were entitled to sick pay and holiday pay after legal action by former worker Zahera Gabriel-Abraham.
Unite claims that just 300 out of more than 3,000 staff who work in Sports Direct’s warehouse are permanent staff. The rest are employed via two agencies – Best Connection and Transline.
Working conditions in the warehouse are tough – underpinned by a “six strikes and you’re out” regime under which workers can be disciplined for taking too long in the toilet, talking too much or taking time off for sickness.