Firm claims TV doc did not give ‘balanced view’
JD Sports says a TV report in which staff claimed its Kingsway warehouse was ‘worse than a prison’, did not represent a ‘balanced characterisation’ of working practices there.
The Bury-based firm asked business services firm Deloitte to investigate allegations raised by Channel 4 News last December, saying at the time it was ‘disappointed and concerned.’
Following the broadcast the Department for Work and Pensions suspended the company from recruiting for the Kingsway plant in its Job Centres until they were ‘satisfied that workers are being treated appropriately.’
The Kingsway Business Park warehouse supplies all JD Sports stores in the UK and abroad and employs around 1,500 workers, operating 24 hours-a-day.
It is one of Rochdale’s biggest employers
Channel 4 News sent secret reporters inside and footage captured their conversations with supervisors and security personnel working there.
One man said he had ‘sacked people for sitting down’ and the footage showed staff commenting that conditions inside the warehouse were ‘worse than a prison’.
The programme also claimed that a ‘punitive three strikes and you’re sacked’ policy was in force and the footage showed a woman being told to ‘work as fast as you can’ as she peeled labels.
The channel also alleged that staff were ‘routinely threatened by supervisors’ and raised concerns regarding workers on ‘zero-hours’ contracts. JD later denied allegations it operated a ‘strike’ system covering things such as lateness and using a mobile phone.
In an interview with Sky News JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill said: “We want the people to enjoy working there. We’ve had to make some minor adjustments as we were making beforehand and we continue to, we’re always looking at areas to improve the business generally and that’s included.”
In a statement the company said: “As the wellbeing of all staff is a key priority for the group and it is an area where we strive continually to improve performance, the board appointed Deloitte to conduct an independent review of the allegations made.
“That review has now been completed and Deloitte’s conclusion was that the allegations did not represent a balanced characterisation of working practices at Kingsway.
“As before, we remain committed to continually reviewing and implementing improvements in day to day procedures there.”
The company gave no more detail on the inquiry’s conclusions.
JD announced the principal finding of its investigation as it revealed an 81 per cent leap in annual pre-tax profit for the JD Sports Fashion group to £238m for the year to January 28.