Yesterday's Sports Direct documentary

Did anyone get a chance to watch yesterday's episode of Channel 4's dispatches? Was just wondering what your thoughts were...

I'm biased - I'm (half) English and want to see Ashley as far away from the club as possible. I watched it with my missus who, being neither English nor a Toon fan, offered some well-needed balanced commentary on the program.

I personally found there was too much focus on the whole 'cut price' issue, and not enough on the labour conditions. Distasteful as many (if not all) of Sports Direct's practices are, they aren't against the law. They take shameless advantage of the public's naivety in going for what appears to be a bargain and people lap it up. Some have the nous to see through the deception. Most don't.

The only real issue I saw in the end was with warehouse employees (sorry, workers!) getting a 'strike' on their record for coming in with a sicknote. That's unacceptable. The other issues, however harsh and cruel, are not uncommon in other places of work either.

Seeing it from a foreigner's point of view, the main problem appears to be with Britain itself. Mike Ashley and Sports Direct are simply a symptom of the legislative problems and prevailing labour conditions that Britain actively allows. As long as there's no change to the law, scummy companies/employers like Sports Direct will continue to thrive because they operate, only just, within the boundaries of the law.
The most prominent example of this was when the presenter was summarising the whole issue of pricing. He stated that what Sports Direct does is in breach of government GUIDELINES. Not laws - guidelines. Hence they are free to flout those at will. Britain, please turn those guidelines into laws, and do something about those zero-hour contracts. Only then will we have a leg to stand on.

 

The treatment of the warehouse workers was disgusting. They may only have been 'agency' workers but giving them strikes for things like extended toilet breaks and sick notes is just unacceptable. Like you said though, this is a fault with the legislation. Agency workers are classed as 'workers' rather than 'employees', so of course aren't afforded the same protection. Rife for abuse.

 

I agree here to some extent, though they have to be clear on what an extended toilet break actually is (the program did not clarify this). I remember from the days I myself worked in a warehouse that I frequently saw people skiving off work by taking unnecessarily long toilet breaks. Even now, as a Primary School teacher I see my kids employ it as a tactic to get out of doing some work. So I can kinda understand it from an employer's point of view.

I paused when the documentary showed the reasons for which an employee could get a 'strike'. To be honest, most of the reasons on there were perfectly reasonable and, like I said, are not uncommon in other places of work. What the documentary should have focused on is where these rules were interpreted unnecessarily harshly. The sick note issue was the only example where they elaborated, but they didn't do that for any other offence. That's unfortunately poor journalism.

 

That's the trouble with the programme. They had a chance to really dish some dirt, but they stayed away from it. The documentary didn't really tell us anything that we didn't already know which is disappointing.

 

It extends to Newcastle United as well. The club is his pretty much entirely, so unfortunately he's free to do with it as he wants. No law or institution (such as the FA) in Britain bars him from doing what he's doing with the club.

Use it as a vessel for free advertising? Sure! Plaster tasteless Sports Direct logos all over the stadium? No problem!

Here in Germany, almost all clubs cannot be owned outright by one company or person (excluding only 3 that I know of - Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, and RB Leipzig). The fans own 50 or 51% of their own club, and have a say on how it's managed. If we had the same structure in place in the UK, people like Mike Ashley, Vincent Tan, or the Venkys would probably not have happened.

 

Ultimately, that's down to regulation. The FA are spineless and the government don't care. We need legislation to prevent this kind of situation from happening. Fan ownership of clubs, or rather a majority stake should be a safeguard. The FA need to bring back the old Rule 34. That would be a start.

 

Look I know just because its legal it doesn't make it morally correct. However if my business can benefit from taking advantage of the rules in place, we do exactly that. Ashley of course is extreme in this practice but there is a simple solution. Close the bloody loopholes he operates in. Legislation is the problem as you correctly note, not Ashley.

 

I hope you are not employing your butler on a zero hours contract where you only pay him when you ring the bell.

 

I don't pay my slaves in anything but bread and water to keep them alive.

 

The grocery mults (my field) have been hit hard in the last few years by:

1- Misleading pricing (the higher price has to be sold in a certain number of stores for a prolonged period for them to be able to drop the price).
2- Treatment Of Suppliers (The Grocery Supplier Code Of Practice.. or GSCOP has stopped some of the rough treatment of the supply base).

It's a shame that this level of scrutiny/control isn't applied outside of the grocery industry into the realms of other retail channels..

 

I watched it. They're doing nothing that many other companies aren't doing already. Whole thing was a none story. Funny that the documentry makers were going on like these practices shock them. How blinkered they are

 

Exactly. If the legislation was different and enforced with any level of consistency then it would be even less of a story than it is right now.

 

I haven't seen the documentary so only have what has been said on here to go by.

I absolutely detest the idea of zero hour contracts. They work in professions where specialists sub-contract out - but we already have something for that - sub-contracting! Difference is that when sub-contracting you can work for anyone usually and aren't owned by any excusivity clauses.

The bit about sick notes and drink breaks sounds no different to most businesses. In a former life I was a senior manager in Supermarkets. I worked for Sainsbury's, Tesco and then Asda. All three had penalty clauses for sick notes and break abuse. Asda was particularly harsh. Off twice (any reason) in your first twelve weeks and you were out the door. After 12 weeks two absences in 12 months was still a disciplinary offence - but you had to go through verbal. written and final warnings so in effect you'd have to be off 7 or 8 times in a year to get sacked. I think most businesses are the same now.

 

If it wasn't for the fact that Mike Ashley is the owner of Sports Direct, would anyone really give a **** and even be bothered to watch the programme?
Probably not if you're being honest...

Zero Hour Contracts can be abused, of that there is no doubt, but unless the next Government commits to changing legislation nothing will change.
If there is no change in government, I'd be amazed if anything is actually done about it.

Sports Direct is only one many companies where its common practice - McDonalds has something like 80,000 employees on ZH contracts.
The list is endless.

 

This is what fascinates me - the generalist opinion is that we should all mindlessly hate Ashley. Even the fans of the club he ACTUALLY abuses aren't as blinkered as the documentary makers!!! If he's not involved in child labour for manufacturing, if he's not paying workers under minimum wage, if he's not doing anything illegal, it's a non event and shouldn't be broadcast. The whole sticker thing happens at every retailer, shop staff are rarely class acts and the more done to stop the laziness of your average british drop-out the better.

In my book, Ashley's misguided when it comes to owning a football club. In everything else, well, it's capitalism/politics, not Ashley, that should be under the spotlight,

 

There were a number of real dodgy goings on for his discounts. Apparently law states to show a price on the box, then put a reduced price next to it means it had to be on display at the higher price in the branch for a set period of time.None of this was occuring. In some cases the SD staff were putting 3 different price stickers on the box in the warehouse before shipping out and were supposedly discounted immediately they arrived in store after NEVER having being on sale at all anywhere.
Consumer expert also said he was conning people with his " Closing Down " sales. " Everything Must Go " yet there was NO prices any different to any other store.

Lets be honest we know he is just a spiv who couldn't give a damn.