Warehouse, photo Trougnouf/CC, photo Troughouf/CC

Warehouse, photo Trougnouf/CC, photo Troughouf/CC   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

JD Sports worker

JD Sports workers have been organising to demand the company close its warehouse, and pay all shop-floor and warehouse workers full pay for the duration of this crisis.

A 2019 report suggested that JD’s CEO ‘earned’ a £6 million bonus (over 2 years) on top of his handsome £2.5m basic salary – a salary 146 times that of the shop floor workers.

At the beginning of 2020, a report in the Financial Times reported that JD was set to make over £425 million – a new record for the company. The final figure was due to be announced on 15 April.

Since then, JD has been forced to close its stores and has chosen to furlough shop-floor workers at the taxpayers’ expense, despite record profits. The way furlough pay is calculated means that my colleagues now face losses of up to £100 a week, causing unimaginable and unnecessary anxiety, and financial hardship.

JD has also decided to put profit before people. It has continued to operate online and keep its warehouse open. It’s been well documented that the conditions in the warehouse are potentially lethal: inadequate PPE, inadequate hand washing facilities and cramped work stations that make it impossible to follow social distancing guidelines.

15 April came and went without the publishing of the accounts, with JD claiming it would be “inappropriate” to publish them.

Of course, they are correct. It would be incredibly inappropriate to announce over £425 million profits just two weeks after going cap-in-hand to the treasury, begging them to take on 80% of workers’ poverty pay packets. Especially since a recent news article featured a company spokesperson boasting of the “more than adequate” cash reserves they have to survive the crisis.

Our message to JD is clear: close your warehouse and guarantee us all full pay for the duration of this crisis. Sign our petition here.