While being a trade union safety rep is definitely not a glamorous role, most people realise it is not a joke if you have to work outside a properly equipped office and/or suffer from many disabilities and don’t have ready access to a toilet or are not…Read more…
Being on Mike Ashley’s Naughty List
Now the season of good will is well and truly over, I can confirm that I did not receive a Christmas card from Sports Direct Mike Ashley.
I am of course – gutted.
Hat tip Daily Telegraph
“The rant before Christmas: five people on Mike Ashley’s naugh…Read more…
“Mike Ashley blocks Labour councillor from Sports Direct board meetings after Corbyn row”
Hat tip Laura Onita Telegraph
“Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley has blocked a Labour councillor from joining the retailer’s board meetings after a spat with Jeremy Corbyn.
The billionaire wrote to John Gray, who is also the vice-chair of the Loca…Read more…
Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) Executive Induction
Today I went on an induction to the LAPFF Executive following my election as Joint Vice Chair.
I used to be on the LAPFF Executive in 2013/2014 and it is good to be back.
LAPFF represents 80 UK Council pension funds and 6 Collective investment pools …Read more…
Pension fund anger at Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley: ‘There’s a problem here’
This morning I went to the Sports Direct Annual General Meeting, during which I had at times a rather robust conversation with its founder, majority shareholder and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Ashley. The media were banned from the meeting.
Hat tip …Read more…
Sports Direct – Mike Ashley’s declining popularity
Perhaps others spotted this at the time, but I just realised that Mike Ashley saw a very sizeable vote against his re-election at the most recent Sports Direct AGM.
On the headline vote he walked it with a vote against of just under 10%, or 44m shares…Read more…
Gambling with workers’ livelihoods
Gig economy baron Mike Ashley has been told by Unite to stop gambling with workers’ livelihoods after he attempted to pin blame on landlords for any future job losses at House of Fraser stores….Read more…
House of Fraser fears
The poor working and pay practices at Sports Direct should not be transferred to the House of Fraser now that Mike Ashley’s company has acquired the troubled High Street chain, Unite said today…Read more…
Adapt or die?
It was their horrific workplace conditions that brought them together – and now the three nightshift workers at a London hotel are the best of friends. Within a few months of starting,…Read more…
Turning it round
Nothing remains of the old Shirebrook colliery in north-east Derbyshire. The coal mine closed in 1993 and 12 years later the site became the central hub of leisurewear retailer Sports Direct. …Read more…
‘Addicted’ to zero-hours
Too many companies like Sports Direct are ‘addicted’ to the use of zero hours contracts and insecure working practices Unite warned today (September 19) as official figures showed there were 1.4…Read more…
Adolf Berle on Sports Direct
Adolf Berle, of Berle and Means fame, continued to write interesting things about corporate power and control long after The Modern Corporation and Private Property. The excerpt below is from Power Without Property: A New Development in American Politi…Read more…
‘Fight together, rise together’
For the first time ever, UK workers at the global fast food chain restaurant McDonald’s went on strike this week (September 4) in their fight against low pay and zero hours contracts. Taking a…Read more…
Hellawell out call
Almost half of Sports Direct shareholders voted to oust controversial chairman Keith Hellawell over failures to improve working conditions, as Unite carried out nationwide protests yesterday…Read more…
Sports Direct chairman scrapes through
Today was the Sports Direct AGM and, once again, chairman Keith Hellawell was in the firing line. He had previously said he would stand down if he failed to get the support of a majority of independent shareholders.
Ahead of the AGM Unite has flagged …Read more…
‘There’s a tide turning’
From the House of Commons – where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the plight of low-paid, insecure workers at PMQs – to the streets of London to the sports retailer’s warehouse in Shirebrook and…Read more…
‘Enough is enough’
Emoji themed Sports Direct protests took place today (September 6) across Sports Direct stores in London, Glasgow, Newcastle and the Sports Direct annual general meeting at Shirebrook to protest…Read more…
Ashley’s year of broken vows
Today (September 6) members of Unite Scotland’s Community Branch made their voices heard as part of Unite’s national protest against Sports Direct and the broken promises of its controversial owner,…Read more…
Sports Direct: What’s changed?
Unite Community North Derbyshire branch chair, Val Graham, has attended Sports Direct’s AGM for the last three years. Speaking after the shareholder meeting, she said, “When Unite…Read more…
Sports Direct: ‘Workers satisfied’ – apparently
UNITElive reports live from inside the AGM: 10.54 Unite will be tweeting from inside the #SportsDirect AGM where board members will face questions over the treatment of staff. 10.59…Read more…