Unions compare Sports Direct to Gulag

Union leaders have told MPs how Sports Direct workers were so fearful of losing their jobs one gave birth in a toilet.

The Commons Business Select Committee has been told how the sportswear company, owned by Mike Ashley, operates a policy where workers are given “strikes” by managers if they spent too long in the toilet or were accused of “excessive talking.”

If a worker is handed six strikes they were dismissed, the hearing was told.

Union leaders also disclosed that workers who do not have a bank account and have their wages paid via a debit card which they have to pay for.

Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, told MPs that workers are charged £10 for the card plus a monthly management fee of £10.

They are also charged 75p every time they use the card and 10p when a text is sent confirming that money has been taken out.

Mr Turner told the Commons Business Select Committee, chaired by Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, that workers were being exploited.

He said conditions at the retail giant's warehouse in Derbyshire were more like a "workhouse" or "gulag".

There was a contempt for workers' rights and a culture of fear, MPs were told.

Unite official Luke Primarolo said there was a culture of fear among workers, and employees were "scared".

Ambulances were regularly called to the warehouse in Shirebrook, he added, claiming one woman had given birth in a toilet.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is due to give his evidence this morning.