As a trade union lawyer I am horrified but not at all shocked at the conditions in Sports Direct’s Shirebrook warehouse (Sports Direct Like a ‘Victorian workhouse’, 22 July). Although some of these practices seem to be at the extreme of normal warehouse operations, as someone who represents workers in retail, warehouse and distribution work, I see these practices on a daily basis. Workers are routinely dismissed after absences as few as three in a year, pay is docked for blocks of time after a few minutes’ lateness and disabled employees and those with recurring conditions are simply managed out of the business.
Although it is some consolation to know that HMRC may now try to fine Sports Direct for its failures to pay the minimum wage, workers are unlikely to see a penny in compensation. If Sports Direct has ceased these practices within the past three months (after scrutiny by the Guardian), then those workers receiving less than the minimum wage could by now be too late to pursue their claims for compensation in an employment tribunal. Even those (usually represented by unions) who have moved fast enough to lodge their claims in time now have their compensation for underpayment severely limited (generally to two years’ back pay), thanks to a change in the law last year.
Christine Peacock
Manchester
• I agree that Sports Direct was able to exploit its workers at Shirebrook because employment law is not suitably enforced. Only transparency can change an immoral work culture, and the Guardian, Unite the union and the business select committee should all be praised for bringing Mike Ashley before the court of public opinion. But exploitation will only wither if the workers themselves show the world their working conditions and use public opinion to pressure employers into changing their behaviour.
To keep them safe from retaliation from their employer, they should use the mobile app Fair Office, which allows workers to anonymously post suggestions about improving their workplace to their colleagues, to management and to the world. Management will have to engage with these anonymous suggestions because Fair Office is an open network; anyone with a smartphone could view any vote or comment about any business.
Gareth Horrocks
Founder and CEO, Fair Office
