STRIKING JJB Sports warehouse staff from Wigan went to London yesterday, to demand the government takes action to uphold the law against strike-breaking by agency workers.
Their union, the GMB, quoted the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003, which came into force in April 2004.
Strikers taking part in their third one-day stoppage handed in a letter of protest at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), accompanied by a golden labrador, to demand enforcement of the law by the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EAS).
GMB member Adrian Cowan and shop steward Joan Simpson told News Line: ‘We’ve come down here because we feel the EAS are dragging their heels. We need them to move on this issue now.
‘We work at the warehouse in Wigan, the JJB distribution centre for the whole country.
‘There’s about 600 people working at the store and there are something like 300 GMB members out on strike.’
They added: ‘As the dispute’s progressed and the company haven’t done anything about it, the feeling in the warehouse has got stronger and more people have joined the strike.’
They continued: ‘We’ve submitted written evidence of extra people recruited into the warehouse since the strike’s gone on, on a day by day basis.
‘Agencies are bringing in new staff and we believe that they’re breaking the law because we’re in dispute with the company.
‘They deny it while they’re actually bringing the staff in,’ said Joan Simpson.
Mary Ball, another GMB member from Wigan, said: ‘It’s a bit suspicious if we can’t talk to new people coming into the warehouse. We think they must have something to hide.’
GMB Regional Secretary Paul McCarthy said the EAS ‘has done nothing to date to enforce the law in the JJB Sports dispute. The EAS is the classic “dog that did not bark’’.’
