Stung by criticism, Sports Direct moves to appoint workers' rep to board

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 9, 2017

Retail giant Sports Direct has responded to scandals over treatment of workers and on Thursday announced that it has begun the process of electing a workers' representative who will attend its board meetings.

In a letter to staff, majority owner and chief executive Mike Ashley said: "I have always believed Sports Direct to be a business that was built by the great people who work here. I therefore believe it is important that your voice is heard at the highest level in order to continue to make a positive difference. I look forward with immense pride to sitting alongside the UK's first elected workers' representative at future board meetings.”

Last year it was revealed that the chain’s workers would get back pay totalling around £1m after around 200 directly employed workers and around 3,000 temporary agency staff were found to have been underpaid by the company for a period of four years.

The back pay deal came after a series of scandals over worker treatment with media investigations revealing a catalogue of abuses.

The company on Thursday said it has opened the application process for candidates for the new workers’ representative, which is open to all directly-engaged workers within the group, “subject to qualifying conditions regarding duration with the group and other relevant criteria.”

What happens next is an assessment process to select candidates who will then be invited to stand in an election, in which around 23,000 staff will be able to vote.

Appointments as workers' representatives will be for 12-month periods, and the election process will be conducted each year.

In the first year the representative will be chosen from the retail division, and in the following year it will be someone working in the warehouse or head office, before this cycle is then repeated.  

Sports Direct  also said the representative would not become a director, as it believes this would potentially constrain their ability to fulfil their role and he or she needs to be “free to champion the interests of all staff.”