Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley called to Westminster over employee treatment
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Version 0 of 1. The Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley is being called before MPs at the House of Commons over the treatment of employees at the company’s USC retail business and the use of zero-hours contracts. The inquiry by the Scottish affairs committee in Westminster is the latest investigation into how about 200 staff at USC’s Ayrshire warehouse lost their jobs when administrators were called in to West Coast Capital (USC), a Sports Direct-controlled entity that owned 28 USC stores. The stores were immediately bought out of administration by another part of Sports Direct but the warehouse was abruptly closed down. Ian Davidson MP, the committee chairman, said: “The Scottish affairs committee is investigating how employees in small businesses are treated when big bosses decide to shut down a company or sites. Following our inquiry into the closure of City Link, we are now inviting USC and Sports Direct management, and Mike Ashley, as the directing influence of this group, to meet with the committee.” He said the committee was also interested in Sports Direct’s use of zero-hours contracts following a previous investigation into the matter. As many as 90% of the retailer’s 23,000 staff are employed under the controversial terms, which do not guarantee work. “We would invite people to come forward and tell us their experiences in this area,” Davidson said. The committee has been seeking to secure the attendance of the publicity-shy Ashley for several weeks and now has about five weeks to conclude its business before parliament is dissolved before the election. If Ashley refuses to attend, MPs have the power to formally summon him. If Ashley refuses, he faces being held in contempt of parliament. While there is no modern precedent for punishment for being held in contempt, the threat of such a public rebuke has recently seen Tony Blair and the Murdoch family appear before MP-led inquiries. A spokeswoman for the Scottish affairs committee said the committee would meet within the next fortnight to consider its next steps if Ashley had not made a commitment to attend and arranged a date to do so. Davidson said, that, while the committee wanted to speak to other relevant members of Sports Direct’s management, those members could not stand in for Ashley. “Mike Ashley is clearly the guiding influence behind the group and we want to have him there.” he said. “We have had people in the past who didn’t have enthusiasm for coming in front of the committee and eventually they understood that the reputational damage from not coming along was much greater than not coming … Eventually he will realise that he is not bigger than parliament.” The inquiry is the latest in a barrage of investigations and legal action facing the Newcastle United owner and his retail empire. A committee at the Scottish parliament in Holyrood is calling on Ashley to appear before it over the treatment of workers at the USC warehouse, while the UK government’s Insolvency Service is also looking into the matter. Sports Direct faces legal action by about 80 former employees at the Ayrshire warehouse which was shut down in January. The company, which issues its latest quarterly trading update on Thursday, is also facing legal action from nearly 300 part-time staff at its main sports chain, who say they were unfairly excluded from a company bonus scheme. The news comes just after the departure of one of Sports Direct’s key personnel, Jeff Blue, who oversaw mergers and acquisitions and had been covering the finance director role vacated when Bob Mellor resigned because of ill health two years ago. |