Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley insists he has ‘nothing to hide’ in showdown with MPs
Newcastle United chief comes out fighting in row about workers' conditions
SPORTS Direct boss Mike Ashley has insisted he has "nothing to hide" at a showdown with MPs over the retailers' work practices.
He is reluctantly appearing in front of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee this morning as he faced a parliamentary summons if he refused to attend.
Mike Ashley spoke about a review into working practices he has been doing for the last six months and said it will never be completed.
"It's an ongoing process. I have discovered some issues and hopefully I have addressed some of those issues."
When asked why it was necessary he said he decided to step in because of the media focus on Sports Direct.
"In some ways I'm not the right person because I'm not an expert in all parts of employment.
"But I felt in the short term I would be the person that would be able to make the most difference."
"Some things have come as a bit of an unpleasant surprise."
He said if the committee said three impartial people have to be put in to do the review then he would accept that, adding "I have nothing to hide".
Speaking during the committee hearing he admitted some Sports Direct staff had been paid below the minimum wage, when going through security checks at the warehouse at the end of their shift.
During his review into working practices he said he had found there was a security bottleneck while staff members were waiting for about 15 minutes to be searched before being allowed home.
He admitted this would put some of the staff at the businessman's Shirebrook warehouse below the minimum wage but he told the committee this has now been resolved.
Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley would have faced a legal battle if he had not agreed to appear at Parliament today
When quizzed, he admits the company has outgrown him, saying it was a dinghy and now it's an oil tanker.
He said: "I can only do my best and my best might not be good enough."
And when asked about staff on zero hours contracts he was seemingly shocked to hear there is a harassment problem in some stores with some managers have been telling some staff if they want a permanent contract they can discuss it over dinner.
He is hinting that there should be a two-tier way of doing zero hours contracts where people who have worked at Sports Direct for a year or so should then go on to a second level where they are guaranteed a certain amount of hours.
But he said he wouldn't be able to take all his staff on directly and got stressed when asked the company doesn't employ all the staff permanently.
He said: "The sensible thing to do is to go out to professionals [employment agencies].
"It would have been physically impossible for us to do it all ourselves.
"I have given a lot of people permanent contracts. You're trying to twist what I'm saying.
"It's impossible to do everything right, impossible. I'm one human being.
"Let's keep this positive, please.
"We have to be fair and balanced otherwise I'm going to clam up.
"I'm going to be honest."
Mike Ashley has agreed a lot of the old working practices at Sports Direct were unfair and he is changing them
Instead of staff feedback surveys he said the best way to talk to the workers himself and find out what the problems are.
He said he is not in favour of talking to the Unite union: "Engaging with Unite. I believe Sports Direct can do a better job for the employees than Unite.
"I'm very proud of not just the money that Sports Direct pays to the people but the results that the people produce.
"They've managed to get themselves to number one."
When pressed about why he won't speak to Unite he said he will have a meeting with them, but would prefer it to be at the company's AGM.
"If I get a clash with Unite and they try and use it as a battleground then I'm against it.
"How many times do you think I should meet them in order to make a difference?"
He said if staff were a minute late they would get docked 15 minutes pay and said this is unacceptable, and didn't know who had set it up.
Mr Ashley said: "As an individual would you tolerate that? I don't think it's fair. I think it's unreasonable."
It has now been changed so being one minute late results in a fine of five minutes.
In the past Mr Ashley had offered the committee members the use of his helicopter to fly to the warehouse to look around.
He said this offer still stood and the MPs were able to visit the warehouse any time day or night.
When quizzed about the health and safety practices at the warehouse, Mr Ashley was quizzed whether he thought it was acceptable that 110 ambulances were sent between January 2013 and mid-April 2016.
Questioning whether all the ambulances were necessary he said: "How are people getting injured in Sports Direct?
"You can't have that number of serious incidences, it's impossible."
Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley in the picking warehouse at the firm's headquarters in Shirebrook, Derbyshire
And he was asked about someone attending training but not being paid for it.
He said: "There will be some things in a company of that size that do happen but shouldn't happen.
"We do put things in place to make sure Sports Direct is a fair and balanced place to work because Sports Direct is its people.
"If I dropped dead tomorrow, Sports Direct doesn't stop."
Mr Ashley had been one of the names in the frame to buy the failed business BHS.
When asked whether he had wanted to buy the company, he was advised to say 'no comment' but instead he said: "I cannot resist it. One hundred per cent I wanted to buy BHS.
"That's why they [my advisers] say they cannot house train me.
"Please don't ask me any more questions because I'm going to get shot."
In a letter to the committee chairman, Iain Wright, sent before today's hearing he said he decided to turn up because a “lengthy legal battle would be of no benefit to either of us''.
The Newcastle United boss insisted he had been ''open and honest'' at every stage of the process.
MPs took the unusual move to summon Mr Ashley in March after he refused previous invitations on the grounds that he would not ''stand idle'' while Sports Direct was ''subjected to public vilification''.
The committee said it wants to examine working practices at the businessman's Shirebrook warehouse, including reports of poor working conditions and the use of controversial zero-hours contracts.
Mr Wright said the MPs would probe allegations that Sports Direct was breaking the law.
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Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: "In terms of the minimum wage rates, I don't believe Sports Direct have been against the law.
“Having said that, there are allegations of having searches that last up to 15 minutes for which staff are unpaid and that would drop them below the minimum wage rate, so in that respect, yes, there are allegations that he could be breaking the law, and we want to press him on that too.
"And there's nothing wrong with 'pile them high and sell them cheap', and there is nothing wrong with shoppers getting a bargain, but I think it's really keen that that's not done through exploitation of workers.”
Mr Wright said the committee was looking at the wider picture of modern working conditions across Britain.
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