Our newborn baby was found abandoned in the toilet of a Sports Direct
distribution warehouse. Yes, it really happened, here in the UK on January 1st, 2014. I say 'our baby' because it wasn't just the baby boy of a nameless, faceless 28 year old woman abandoned in the toilet; it was our sister's baby, the baby of our colleague, our friend, our daughter, our mother, our neighbour, our lover: a newborn human baby boy was abandoned in the toilet.
I was reminded of this because this morning on the radio I heard that Sports Direct have pledged to improve conditions for their workers, they will abolish zero hour employment
contracts and will put workers on a permanent contract giving them entitlement to holiday and sick pay, as well as a more regular income.
Sports direct should not be allowed to redeem itself, the
fact remains that these workers have suffered horrific ill treatment and their exploitation has served to line the pockets of the shareholders. And sports direct is just one of the many companies using zero hours
contracts to further empower the already powerful. Does a baby need to be born in a toilet before society wakes up to its
responsibility to care?
I left my job last week. I left because, by accepting the changes that were to be implemented (see previous posts) I’d have been
complicit in the ongoing exploitation: exploitation suffered by all those working under inhumane conditions. I’m now unemployed and possibly unemployable, so I’ll write. I’m free to write without the need for self censorship, I’m free to express my opinions. I
walked away from my job at TBS, packing books for Penguin Random House because it didn't pay a living wage. I’ll give my time in labour for a fair wage; I’ve spoken to
a Director, I’ve tried to be active through the union and I’ve expressed my
opinion in the workplace and in writing, but nothing changes, except that my work was reduced to 1 or 2 shifts/week.
What are the powerful waiting for? Can’t they see, smell, hear the babies being born
in toilets? Where are the voices of the working poor? The underpaid lack the
basic means to be heard, they’re off the radar, consumed in the daily struggle for subsistence, it's a hopeless struggle on less than a living wage, the working poor are denied the means for
participation in society, they have no time, no money and no resources; hard
working people in our society, today, are reduced to demonstrative acts of bodily function. I’m not saying that the 28 year old woman
gave birth to her son in the toilet as an act of defiance against her working conditions, I
don’t have background information.
But the facts remain; a woman abandoned a newborn baby in the toilet of a Sports
Direct distribution warehouse in the United Kingdom in 2014 and today 6th September 2016 it’s been
announced that the company has taken some responsibility for improving conditions for its workers.
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