JJB Sport agencies under fire

The GMB general union is pressing ahead with its call for criminal charges against three employment agencies in Wigan over the alleged supply of labour to retailer JJB Sports during a recent pay dispute.

Warehouse workers at the company have won an improved pay settlement, after three days of strike action and an overtime ban, but the role of agency workers and what the union sees as a lack of action by the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EAS) continues to rankle.

The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003, which came into force in April 2004, restricts the provision of labour in industrial disputes. Despite this, the GMB claims that when industrial action broke out agency workers were moved from their normal jobs to jobs normally done by people on strike, while additional new workers were recruited to do jobs not done by strikers.

The role of agency workers became one of the key issues in the dispute. The GMB warned the agencies that they could face fines of up to £5,000 per offence, lose their licence, and be sued for losses.

Now that the dispute is over, Graham Coxon, GMB regional officer, said : "Our members want to see EAS pressing criminal charges in the courts against the agencies who supplied JJB with agency labour during the dispute. GMB will also raise a question in parliament about how EAS does its job".