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| Sports Direct is a reflection of the modern British economy | Sports Direct is a reflection of the modern British economy |
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| Sports Direct seems to be a metaphor for the modern British economy. “The conscious strategy would seem to be to rely on cheap labour rather than costly investment,” as your editorial (11 December) says. It also illustrates the epidemic growth of workforce insecurity which plagues a nation scarred by the rise of the precariat. Britain is rapidly becoming the sweatshop of Europe, and this, along with bubbles in consumer debt and house prices, has been a major part in such anaemic recovery as we have seen over the past five years. | Sports Direct seems to be a metaphor for the modern British economy. “The conscious strategy would seem to be to rely on cheap labour rather than costly investment,” as your editorial (11 December) says. It also illustrates the epidemic growth of workforce insecurity which plagues a nation scarred by the rise of the precariat. Britain is rapidly becoming the sweatshop of Europe, and this, along with bubbles in consumer debt and house prices, has been a major part in such anaemic recovery as we have seen over the past five years. |
| All credit to the Guardian for bringing this to public notice, and can we have more, please? But given all this, surely we have an open goal for Labour? No – once again they get it wrong, as Ed Miliband did when talking about “predatory capitalism” rather than highlighting the value of businesses that are run ethically and setting out plans to protect them from race-to-the-bottom firms such as Sports Direct and Amazon. John McDonnell’s reported remarks are in the same vein: quite rightly outraged about abuses, but adopting a negative, accusatory tone rather than emphasising that most businessmen are not like Mike Ashley and do not need government to keep them in check. | All credit to the Guardian for bringing this to public notice, and can we have more, please? But given all this, surely we have an open goal for Labour? No – once again they get it wrong, as Ed Miliband did when talking about “predatory capitalism” rather than highlighting the value of businesses that are run ethically and setting out plans to protect them from race-to-the-bottom firms such as Sports Direct and Amazon. John McDonnell’s reported remarks are in the same vein: quite rightly outraged about abuses, but adopting a negative, accusatory tone rather than emphasising that most businessmen are not like Mike Ashley and do not need government to keep them in check. |
| Related: Sports Direct’s corporate governance needs a radical overhaul | Letters | |
| The key is in the one major weakness of capitalism, which is that it has an obvious built-in mechanism that undermines good employers; and the only answer to this is legislation such as the Factory Acts. An alliance between government and “good” capitalism was prominent in checking the worst abuses of the factory system during the first industrial revolution. What we have here is a similar situation, and a huge opportunity for the opposition.Jeremy CushingExeter | The key is in the one major weakness of capitalism, which is that it has an obvious built-in mechanism that undermines good employers; and the only answer to this is legislation such as the Factory Acts. An alliance between government and “good” capitalism was prominent in checking the worst abuses of the factory system during the first industrial revolution. What we have here is a similar situation, and a huge opportunity for the opposition.Jeremy CushingExeter |
| • The refusal of British capital to invest in British industry, preferring to rely on cheap imported labour and old technology, is one of the great economic mysteries and is clearly now as dominant in parts of the retail business as it was in the now largely defunct manufacturing sector. Working in a further education college in Wolverhampton in the 60s and 70s, teaching young apprentices, I remember a foundry still in operation that had once made cannon in the Napoleonic wars, and still using the same technology; skilled workers making motor cycle engines using second world war machine tools in competition with Japanese companies with automated production lines; and men hand-rolling steel bars in a steelworks in Wednesbury. And these antiquated practices have an even longer history back into the 19th century. | • The refusal of British capital to invest in British industry, preferring to rely on cheap imported labour and old technology, is one of the great economic mysteries and is clearly now as dominant in parts of the retail business as it was in the now largely defunct manufacturing sector. Working in a further education college in Wolverhampton in the 60s and 70s, teaching young apprentices, I remember a foundry still in operation that had once made cannon in the Napoleonic wars, and still using the same technology; skilled workers making motor cycle engines using second world war machine tools in competition with Japanese companies with automated production lines; and men hand-rolling steel bars in a steelworks in Wednesbury. And these antiquated practices have an even longer history back into the 19th century. |
| It is almost as if, having binged on innovation in the industrial revolution, British capital simply laid back and rested on its laurels, content to make its living by rent-seeking and asset-stripping, activities very much alive today throughout the so-called financial services sector with its short-sighted preoccupation with quarterly returns.Roy BoffyWalsall | It is almost as if, having binged on innovation in the industrial revolution, British capital simply laid back and rested on its laurels, content to make its living by rent-seeking and asset-stripping, activities very much alive today throughout the so-called financial services sector with its short-sighted preoccupation with quarterly returns.Roy BoffyWalsall |
| • Your report on conditions at Sports Direct contained references to employment lawyers which suggest wilful ignorance of conditions under which zero hours employees work. My sister-in-law until recently worked as a domiciliary care worker, for which she was paid marginally over the minimum wage for the time when visiting clients. She was required to use her own car and was paid 25p per mile for travelling between clients but was not paid travelling time, which on occasion exceeded the time while actually engaged on a call. | • Your report on conditions at Sports Direct contained references to employment lawyers which suggest wilful ignorance of conditions under which zero hours employees work. My sister-in-law until recently worked as a domiciliary care worker, for which she was paid marginally over the minimum wage for the time when visiting clients. She was required to use her own car and was paid 25p per mile for travelling between clients but was not paid travelling time, which on occasion exceeded the time while actually engaged on a call. |
| A zero-hours contract can of course result in adjustments to hours of employment offered to troublesome employees who might ultimately be represented as having made themselves unemployed with consequent financial censure. This, more than anything, discourages these groups of staff from speaking out. I drew this Dickensian situation to my MP who referred it to the minister for work and pensions, who declared it to be illegal but offered no other response or action. | A zero-hours contract can of course result in adjustments to hours of employment offered to troublesome employees who might ultimately be represented as having made themselves unemployed with consequent financial censure. This, more than anything, discourages these groups of staff from speaking out. I drew this Dickensian situation to my MP who referred it to the minister for work and pensions, who declared it to be illegal but offered no other response or action. |
| I hope that your having given such prominence to the Sports Direct situation points to your intention of raising the profile of these deplorable employment conditions. There would currently seem to be little prospect of living wage conditions being applied when the legal minimum wage is so easily circumvented.William HallNottingham | I hope that your having given such prominence to the Sports Direct situation points to your intention of raising the profile of these deplorable employment conditions. There would currently seem to be little prospect of living wage conditions being applied when the legal minimum wage is so easily circumvented.William HallNottingham |
| • The shadow chancellor’s call for a full investigation by HMRC of Sports Direct (Report, 11 December) shows how out of touch Labour is with what is going on in HMRC. The number of staff dedicated to employer compliance has declined sharply in the last five years due to the government’s policy of cuts to the department. And with HMRC’s plans to close most of its offices nationwide, it is even less likely that such investigations will be undertaken.Ian Arnott(ex-HMRC) Peterborough | • The shadow chancellor’s call for a full investigation by HMRC of Sports Direct (Report, 11 December) shows how out of touch Labour is with what is going on in HMRC. The number of staff dedicated to employer compliance has declined sharply in the last five years due to the government’s policy of cuts to the department. And with HMRC’s plans to close most of its offices nationwide, it is even less likely that such investigations will be undertaken.Ian Arnott(ex-HMRC) Peterborough |
| • Jeremy Hunt claimed that tax credit cuts would make the British work as hard as the Chinese (Report, 5 October). And lo, it came to pass that Mike Ashley has been doing just that, presumably leading the way forward for companies that need to further enrich the 1% by exploiting the poor.Dr Kenneth SpencerHull | • Jeremy Hunt claimed that tax credit cuts would make the British work as hard as the Chinese (Report, 5 October). And lo, it came to pass that Mike Ashley has been doing just that, presumably leading the way forward for companies that need to further enrich the 1% by exploiting the poor.Dr Kenneth SpencerHull |
| • I find it surprising, no, astonishing that the Guardian can publish an entire editorial about the low-wage, no-workers-rights economy and not once mention trade unions. Do these have no role whatsoever in improving the pay and conditions of workers?Dr David AllsoppYork | • I find it surprising, no, astonishing that the Guardian can publish an entire editorial about the low-wage, no-workers-rights economy and not once mention trade unions. Do these have no role whatsoever in improving the pay and conditions of workers?Dr David AllsoppYork |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
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