MEMBERS of Unite Scotland’s Youth Committee will protest outside Sports Direct in Glasgow today as part of the ‘Decent Work for All’ campaign.

The event is part of a UK-wide day of action against the chain and owner Mike Ashley.

The trade union claims Sports Direct employs 75 per cent of its 15,000 staff on “precarious contracts” which give workers limited security on hours, pay, and holiday and sickness entitlements.

The Decent Work for All campaign is aimed at raising awareness of workers caught in what the union calls a “vicious circle” of minimum wage, zero hour contract jobs.

Unite Community Organiser, Jamie Caldwell, said: “More than 100,000 people in Scotland are employed on a zero hour contract - many of them are young workers and they don’t know how many hours work they will get one week to the next or whether their poverty wages will stretch far enough to cover the rising cost of living.

“Sports Direct are one of the biggest and most visible practitioners of this modern-day exploitation, responsible for one fifth of all zero hour contracts in the UK retail sector, and its right that the public knows the likes of Mike Ashley are making billions off the back of poverty-pay and conditions.

“We are inspired by the direct action campaigns from across the world, particularly the fight of fast-food workers in the US and their campaign for a $15 an hour wage and we know that we have to fight-back ourselves because the UK Government is cheerleading rather than intervening in this growing scandal.

“It shouldn’t be this way in 21st century Britain and it doesn’t have to be either so my message to anyone trapped in low-pay or frustrated by job insecurity is to join our campaign, organise with us and let's create decent work for all.”

The demonstration will be held outside Sports Direct in Sauchiehall Street tomorrow at 2:30pm.

The Evening Times contacted Sports Direct but they did not respond to a request for a comment.