Episode 13 Inside Out

Hello and welcome to Derbyshire. It is 12 months since this programme

investigated working practices inside Sports Direct. So, what

happened next? Do you think your company has outgrown your ability to

manage it? Probably, a long time ago. The man in charge as promised

MPs big changes. If he is under pressure he will change. We cannot

forget. Also tonight, what really happened at the bottle of Orgreave.

They bounced me of the riot shields. They basically not ten bells out of

me. The programmes that matter closer to home.

A year ago are special investigation revealed the harsh reality of life

for thousands of agency workers at the company's warehouse in

Derbyshire. The revelations of what was going on behind closed doors

attracted attention at the heart of national government. 12 months on,

we have been examining what has changed. The Long walk to

Westminster to face the UK's lawmakers. Mike Ashley, founder of

Sports Direct, finally giving his side of the story about treatment of

his warehouse workers. Exposed by inside out. It feels like something

out of Dickens. The old workhouse. They don't care. Nobody. One family

who were on the minimum wage brave enough to speak out. And the

billionaire with cash to splash. Facing MPs wanting the truth about

life for 4000 warehouse workers. One day you have a tiny inflatable and

you are in control. Wake up one morning and you are on an oil

tanker. Whitney is our reporter for inside out. She was one of the

reporters who broke the story about Sports Direct. As the journey been

worth it? Last year we explained how an agency picture and Packer in

Shire Brooke had a stroke in the warehouse canteen. His wife and

daughter had also worked there in a culture of fear. He was frightened

he would be given a penalty which could lead to losing his job because

of an agency six strikes and you're out policy. We also discovered a

large number of ambulance calls and reported accidents. I took part to

speak with the right people to bring that all out at what has happened in

Sports Direct. People who said, he never believed me, who said you are

too small for Mike Ashley. We are not going to get nothing. Three

months after the programme, Mike Ashley announces he will review the

treatment of workers. MPs call him to Parliament. He refuses, but at

the last minute, changes his mind. He doesn't know it, but the family

are also on their way to the hearing. Eight months after telling

their story to us, they are telling it to MPs, but in private. Finally,

someone is listening to us. It was very emotional. It is like talking

about a horror film. We are really grateful because they've put their

necks on the line. It was incredibly brave. When somebody is looking at

you in the face, crying and saying no one is listening to us, that made

it even more imperative that we challenged and tried to produce

solutions. We knew from looking in their eyes that they were telling

the truth. First up in public, it is the union,

Unite, campaigning for changes at Shire Brooke. This is not typical of

a warehouse that it will become typical of a warehouse if we do not

do something about the employment practices that are being deployed by

Sports Direct. Next up, the two agencies with the ?50 million

contract to supply and manage warehouse workers for Mike Ashley.

On the left, two bosses from Trans line, the man on the right is from

best connection. In our programme, Nina was told she had a strike, a

penalty, for getting a drink of water when she was feeling ill.

Sports Direct let her go. The supervisor from the agency gave a

strike. Fast forward to June 20 16. You had a coughing fit. It is

dreadful when that happens and I am glad you could get a glass of water.

We have been told that if you asked for a glass of water outside of

designated bricks, you would get a strike. Is that fair? I am not sure

that is the case. I couldn't comment on an individual circumstance. I

wouldn't say it is fair. There are now another 26 water coolers in the

warehouse. The committee will answer questions. Finally, the man everyone

has come to see. Mike Ashley has already increased pay over

revelations over paying workers below the minimum wage. So, what

does Mr Ashley have to say about the large number of calls for emergency

ambulances revealed in the programme? Mostly for serious health

issues, not accidents, including a stroke and a baby born in a toilet.

Do you think that is excessive? Yes. What systems are you putting in

place to address that? That is part of the review. I am told they were

over quick to pick up the phone to call the Ambulance Service. I would

suggest that someone giving birth in a toilet in the warehouse was not

being overhasty. The company is now recruiting a nurse who will be

on-site during the day. Do you think your company has outgrown your

ability to manage it? Probably, a long time ago. I think he still

doesn't understand how serious it is. You said you woke up one day and

your little business was an oil tanker. Shouldn't you get someone

who knows how to sail and tried an oil tanker? Possibly. He said his

business grew and he didn't have a clue or he couldn't cope with how

big it is. He didn't know what has happened there. Straight after the

hearing, Trans line arranged a meeting with the family at Shire

Brooke. They continue to be paid by the agency. Someone else appears.

Mike Ashley turned up. I wasn't, he apologised, he apologised to my dad,

to my mum and me for the hard time we had after my dad had a stroke. He

promised he would be involved if we needed any support. One month later,

the Parliamentary report is damning. MPs find it incredible Mike Ashley

has no idea what is going on, but welcome his commitment to change. We

said in our report that we felt that workers were being treated like

cattle, but they were just commodities, rather than actual

people. I do take him at face value and I think there is a willingness

to change. Do you plan to drop in unannounced to check up? I think

that is important. I will not say when that will be. The programme

exposed almost 40 reported accidents in two years, some serious. The

committee wants the Health and Safety Executive and the District

Council to get more involved. That is without knowing that the company

report shows an increase in warehouse accidents. With the new

head of health and safety, the company will examine accident

trends, just like we did. Now, the Council told me it is putting more

resources into dealing with an increase in accidents and the HSE

said it will support the council to make sure Sports Direct complies

with health and safety procedures. It is September. Since the

programme, the share price has more than half. Today is the company AGM.

Unlike last year, I am allowed to attend. So, too is the news media,

just a day after Sports Direct only report identified serious failures.

Yesterday a report published which was commissioned by the company

itself which identified serious shortcomings in working practices in

the warehouse. The report recommends the notorious strike system should

be suspended. Advisers to Mike Ashley steer him through a PR

offensive, opening the warehouse doors to change. If the headline is

sorry then so be it. He is the media tour guide here to state his case.

The turnover is 500 million. It is incredibly Labour intensive and stop

finally, I get the chance to as agency workers really want to know.

As the strike system gone for good? Has the message got through? Do the

agencies realise that? Yes, it is gone. I am told that as of today,

there is no strike policy. As far as I am concerned, the strike policies,

six strokes, is finished. No problem. I have got to go back. In

London the next day and the contents of Mr Ashley's pockets have stolen

the show. For the largest union in the country, it is not a laughing

matter. You can outsource the responsibility for your warehouse

operations simply by outsourcing the management of it. It is the name

Sports Direct over the warehouse. It is his reputation and the reputation

of that business which has taken a knock because of the consequences of

the actions of the agencies. Unite says it is in constructive dialogue

with senior management. Still under pressure, Sports Direct has agreed

to an independent review as a trial some agency workers are being

transferred to permanent jobs at Sports Direct. The chief executive

has resigned. Mike Ashley has taken his place. A spokesman said Mr

Ashley was therefore too busy to be interviewed. In a statement, the

founder of Sports Direct told me we have had our problems in the past, I

have said I'll fix it and I will. As a result of the work of inside out,

thousands of lives, workers at Sports Direct, will now start seeing

their conditions improve. I think it was really worth it to take part in

the programme. We have to be brave. People in the street come and say to

us, well done to you, to your doctor. We have had big changes in

our house. Supervisors and team leaders talk differently with us.

They don't shout at us any more. If he is going to be under pressure, he

will change. He will change a lot. We can't forget. We can. And we will

keep you posted on that story which, since our programme, he never seems

to be out of the news. Now, the miners strike remains one of the

most bitter industrial dispute in living memory. The so-called Battle

for grief, violent clashes between police and striking miners happen in

June 19 84. The Home Secretary is expected to announce an

investigation into the conduct of police officers. However, some

campaigners fear the truth will remain buried. Dan Johnson has the

story. The miners strike. A year of picket line confrontation between

police and striking miners. Of all the clashes, it was what happened at

Orgreave in June 1984 that has never been forgotten. It is remembered as

a battle. What made Orgreave different was its scale. Thousands

of police officers faced even more striking miners. Police said they

came under attack from writing pickets who were unlawfully trying

to stop others getting to work. The miners said they were executing

their lawful right to pick it when they were brutally attacked and

falsely charged with rioting. A miner from Nottinghamshire was

arrested that day. He was charged with right but cleared in quite a

year later when the prosecution case collapsed. Police officers got me by

the arm. They said I was under arrest and I said what are under

arrest for? They said throwing stones at police officers. I said

look at my hands, they are clean. I haven't thrown nothing. He said they

all say that when they get caught. The Barnsley of riot shields, the

long interlocking ones. They basically knocked ten bells out of

me. It is not just brutality police are accused of. Many miners were

charged with riot, Acer serious offence which could have meant long

prison sentences. To prove that, police needed plenty of evidence.

There are questions about the way that evidence was gathered. In the

police lines at Orgreave officers from at least ten different forces.

PC Bob Bird was among them, Boston from the West Midlands. He remains

convinced that the violence from some of the miners meant they had to

be arrested. I am only speaking as one of the grunts who was there with

a shield. I didn't see or hear or have any part in people who, for no

point at all, were arrested and were fitted up with charges that had

nothing to do with their actions. Officers arrested people for

illegitimate offences. The charging decisions that were made after that

event had nothing to do with the veracity of why they were arrested

in the first place. Four years ago inside out revealed documents from

Orgreave. Police statements which showed dozens of officers had

written the same passages, virtually word for word. It is obvious in the

world grave cases that there was widespread collusion. There was a

continual barrage of missiles. You can't get statements in the way they

have been done here by police officers from different forces

involved in different arrests and find such a degree of similarity

without there being some degree of collusion. As a direct result of

that programme, South Yorkshire Police called in the Independent

police contains commission. For two and a half years it considered

evidence to decide whether to launch an investigation. Nobody contacted

staff. I'd never heard anything. Nobody investigated me, nobody said

anything. Nothing happened at all. Why should there have been? They

said they would investigate. I heard nothing at all. What do you think

about that? It sounds like a cover-up, doesn't it? Ten months

after South Yorkshire Police referred itself to the IPCC, myself

and our editor or invited here to IPCC headquarters in London. We were

surprised to be told they had not yet contacted all the forces who

have officers at Orgreave and even South Yorkshire Police hadn't

provided all the documents they had been asked for. The IPCC have told

us that all forces have been asked for documents a peak weeks after our

meeting and that they were provided. In June last year, the IPCC

announced it would not be holding an enquiry. That immediately protocols

for the government to take action. I have written to the Prime Minister

this afternoon and asked him to consider setting up a public enquiry

or at least the Pillsbury style panel. The Hillsborough panel was an

independent research team which reviewed documents. It was led by an

academic. The issue about Orgreave is a perfect test ground for the

Hillsborough Independent panel model. It had never happened before

when you had an independent panel brought in not too build a case, not

to answer a case, but simply to review all the material pertaining

to that case. Michael Mansfield defended the miners in the Orgreave

trials. For three decades he has campaigned for an enquiry into how

they were treated. Is it not best just left alone? They said that

about Hillsborough. Then you get a jury saying wait a minute. Those

products were important. Theresa May has recognised that in her speech to

the Police Federation only this year. The toxicity committee stream

of justice has to be taken out. Because historical enquiries are not

archaeological excavations. They are not purely exercises in truth and

reconciliation. They do not just pursue resolution, they are about

ensuring justice. Justice. Let's step back and look at the people who

have never been brought to account what made accountable publicly, the

people who were behind the organisation. That is senior police

officers in South Yorkshire Police, as well as people beyond that in the

Home Office and in the Cabinet. That is why it has to be a public enquiry

with full powers. The new Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, promised

campaigners she would announce a decision by the end of this month. I

have a feeling somebody wants to kick this into the long grass. Lord

Tebbit was a member of the Cabinet with a reputation for opposing trade

union power. What do you think of the calls for an enquiry? If there

was an enquiry it would be a waste of time and money. The facts are

absolutely clear. They are well known. We don't need to be hirsute.

The legal profession will Nick Williams out of it, to what end

question mark these events were 30 years ago. If I were put in charge

of such an enquiry, we could finish it off in a couple of days and it

would be done and dusted. There were people coming out of the past and we

all know who they are saying this is a waste of money and time, we should

not be doing this. I dare say if that individual had suffered in the

same way they would want to know, they would want to know. You need to

know in a vibrant democracy. The man who led the Hillsborough panel

doesn't think he will be offered a similar job again. I think we

asserted such great independence that the US that model in other

circumstances would be considered difficult for the interests of

government and civil service. There are police officers who will not

talk about this. Not because of any wrongdoing, but from a deep-seated

belief that they will only try and find some way in which to implicate

you in something that with hindsight, is seen to be wrongdoing.

If you did a cram 32 years ago, with police forget about it? They don't

say it 32 years ago, I will let you go. They will still want answers.

Same as what we still want answers. The place has been transformed with

new businesses and new homes, even a new name. It is unrecognisable. But

for the people who were here that day, especially for the miners,

there is no forgetting what happened. That is it from us this

week. Goodbye. Good evening. It has been a week of

easterly winds begin. The high-pressure sat across Scandinavia

blocking