REAL LIVES UK jobs 2015 2015


Some of the stories coming out of billionaire Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct warehouse are barely credible.


But the stories remain undocumented because many of the staff – most of them from Eastern Europe – are too frightened to make the allegations public, says Unite regional officer Luke Primarolo.


A substantial majority of the workforce at the complex in Shirebrook, are agency workers on zero hours contracts and paid the national minimum wage – or a few pence higher. Their employment status is hardly secure.


Managers have absolute power over the workforce – which is reinforced by a ‘six strikes and you’re out’ regime.


Even with a medical certificate, you are deducted one point if you are off sick; 1.25 points if you go home ill and two points if you make a mistake or fail to hit your target. The system leaves massive scope for bullying.


In December Latvian worker Guntars Zarins forced himself into work, but collapsed with a blood clot on his brain. The 52-year-old father of two remains partially paralysed, according to his family.


the company’s 12 uniteWORKS Spring 2015


WORKING UK-STYLE


If you want to see what’s happened to work in the UK in 2015, look no further than Sports Direct


One East European woman, who was seven to eight months pregnant, went in despite feeling unwell and gave birth in a toilet. It is not known whether the 28- year-old notified Sports Direct of her pregnancy, or if any appropriate action was taken by the firm.


One worker on a full-time contract told uniteWORKS that the warehouse was like ‘the Wild West’. Targets are constantly changed and monitored and there have been a series of arbitrary sackings. Luke is currently investigating whether union reps in particular are being victimised.


Many of the employees have young families but are expected to work at least part of the weekend. They are prevented from taking breaks or parental leave during school holidays. “It’s perfectly legal,” says Luke. “but it means they have very little chance to be with their children.”


And then there is the deduction of up to £5 from their wages for ‘insurance’. Luke is looking into whether this could possibly represent


liability


insurance. “With about 5,000 agency workers on site, that adds up to a lot of money,” he says.


Everyone is searched when they clock out.


If they are at the back of the queue it can take up to an hour to leave the building. It is possible they are paid less than the minimum wage for the hours they spend at work.


“But without individuals coming forward, it is difficult to challenge it,” says Luke. Built on the site of the old colliery, the warehouse was meant to provide employment for the local community which never


recovered from the devastating closure of the pit in 1993.


Apart from 300 permanent employees at the site, the 5,000 other workers are recruited and employed by two agencies, Best Connection and Transline.


Some of these ‘temporary’ workers have been at the warehouse for eight years. All of them are on zero hours contracts, although in reality many are full-time.


The union believes the agencies have targeted workers from abroad because they think they will be easier to control. “I am not saying Eastern Europeans are naturally more compliant,” says Luke, “but they are not in their own country, it’s not their language and they don’t know how the law works.


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