Grandmother who couldn't work Saturdays fired by text

A grandmother has been sacked from Sports Direct after saying she was unable to work Saturdays as she was looking after her grandchildren.

Ann Hesford frequently worked more than 50 hours a week at the company’s Wigan warehouse, but was on a zero-hours contract. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has previously said both Sports Direct and zero-hour contracts “have no place in the 21st century. We cannot go on with [the] … use [of] zero-hours contracts as the standard way of employing people month after month, year after year.”

However, Sport Direct’s CEO, Dave Forsey, has defended them: “It’s very flexible and, contrary to what is reported, it does work very well for the vast majority of our casual staff as well as it does for the company [sic].”

Both points are valid. While the contracts offer freedoms that permanent placings don’t, there is a substantial loss in job security.