Mike Ashley urged to fire Yorkshire recruiters
SPORTS DIRECT owner Mike Ashley has been urged to cut ties with Brighouse-based recruitment company Transline after MPs claimed it had “deliberately misled” an investigation into the working practices forced upon its staff.
The firm’s alleged malpractice emerged following an investigation into employees’ conditions and pay at Sports Direct’s Shirebrook factory in Derbyshire, to which Transline and another firm, Best Connection, supplied temporary workers.
Chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Iain Wright MP, which is investigating the situation wrote to Transline last week, and today wrote to Mike Ashley, majority shareholder in Sports Direct, urging him to sever ties with the group.
Transline has faced intense scrutiny at the committee. Along with the sporting retailer, the company has been accused of having unfair contracts, including zero hour weeks, under which staff were denied if they raised any grievances with management.
Stories emerged of a woman giving birth on site at the Shirebrook site, and excessive ambulance call outs.
Mr Wright MP said he doubted the “probity” of Transline directors in their statement to BIS, and doubting the reliability of their witnesses.
He said that Jenny Hardy, finance director of Transline had not answered fundamental questions regarding its evidence.
In correspondence dated 9 September, the committee stated that they “did not like the tone” of her response to their report on working practices at Sports Direct, and that the company had a spotted history in employment, having been denied a licence by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to operate in the food and beverage industry.
In his letter, the chairman said that if Transline failed to address the committee’s findings, it would find the directors unfit to hold the position and run a company.
It said: “We ask you to think seriously about continuing to use Transline, a company that treats their workers and conducts its business in a way that is inconsistent with your own aspirations for Sports Direct to be seen on a par with the likes of Selfridges and John Lewis.”
A company spokesperson said: “We have always provided accurate information to the Select Committee and are focused on supporting Sports Direct in reviewing and implementing recommendations and actions from the Working Practices Report. We will continue to offer clarity and any further information necessary to the Committee. Obviously we find Iain Wright MP’s statements and summary disappointing, however we will prioritise responding to the latest correspondence in a full and concise manner, within the requested timescale.”
