Sports Direct better than a union, Ashley tells MPs

Controversial Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley told MPs on Tuesday that his company could do a better job than a union when it came to looking after workers.

Ashley appeared before the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee after completing two u-turns over whether he would appear in recent days.

In his long and sometime contradictory evidence, Ashley said Sports Direct could do a better job than the Unite union on the question of employee welfare.

He was then asked if that was a view shared by the workers themselves, to which he replied “I would hope so.”

The Unite union has been vocal in its criticism of Sports Direct since a Guardian-led investigation uncovered allegations of poor and potentially illegal treatment of employees and agency workers late last year.

Assistant general secretary of the union, Steve Turner, earlier told MPs that workers were being exploited and likened the company’s Shirebrook warehouse to a “gulag”.

Turner said workers were given “strikes” if they breached anything on a list of seemingly frivolous offences, such as talking too much or taking long or frequent toilet breaks.

Six of these “strikes” in a six month period would result in an employee being terminated, he said.

Ashley told MPs that he had discovered issues in his company’s treatment of staff, and promised to rectify them - though he gave himself some wiggle room to do so.

“I’ve discovered some issues and I’ve hopefully addressed some of those issues,” he said, citing bottlenecks at the outward security checks as the main issue.

The Guardian investigation revealed that employees were being held up by 15 minutes or more, unpaid, as they were searched by security staff at the Shirebrook facility for any products they may have stolen.

Ashley told the committee changes to working practices would be introduced within 90 days - though he said he would write to MPs if he needed an extension to the timeframe.

“You’re pushing against an open door,” he said.

He agreed that docking employees 15 minutes of pay for clocking in one minute late or clocking out one minute early was “unacceptable” and “unreasonable”.

But he also launched an impassioned defence of his empire, saying Sports Direct has a “hard-working culture” and was a “victim of its own success”.

“I’m not Father Christmas. I’m not saying I’ll make the world wonderful,” he added when speaking of his plans to turn around the firm’s employment relations.

Ashley initially agreed to appear in front of the select committee in March, but last week backed down in the face of threats of being held in contempt of Parliament, citing his lawyer’s schedule as clashing with the summons.

He also called the committee a “joke”, before coming full circle over the weekend and once again agreeing to appear before the MPs.

Shares in Sport Direct have fallen 45% in the last year amid a mix of falling sales, and the negative publicity surrounding its employment practices.