CONDITIONS at Sports Direct are “akin to a workhouse,” the union representing staff at the company charged yesterday.

Unite is calling for precariously employed workers at the company’s main warehouse to be paid the living wage and moved onto permanent contracts.

Earlier this year, Sports Direct’s billionaire founder Mike Ashley refused to be questioned by a committee of MPs, which had planned to grill him on the axing of 200 jobs when a subsidiary of his retail empire was put in administration.

His company operates a “six strikes” policy for warehouse staff, pushing workers closer to the sack for offences such as spending too long in the toilet or talking too much, according to Unite.

The union says only around 10 per cent of the 3,000 workers at the Shirebrook depot are permanent staff, with the rest on zero-hours contracts with employment agencies Best Connection and Transline.

And reps say 70 per cent of workers in the company’s high-street stores are also employed under the exploitative arrangements.

Unite regional officer Luke Primarolo said: “Agency workers on zero-hours contracts are being subjected to working conditions at Sports Direct that are more akin to a workhouse than a FTSE 100 company.

“These Victorian-era work practices, where workers eke out the minimum wage, living in constant fear of losing their job, have no place in 21st-century Britain.

“Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is generating massive profits and can well afford to wean itself off a business model built on low pay and exploitative zero-hours contracts.

“It’s time for Sports Direct to restore dignity and security at work by paying the real living wage and putting staff on permanent contracts.”

But a Sports Direct spokesman claimed Unite’s allegations about the employment of zero-hours staff were “unfounded and inaccurate.”

He said: “The group complies fully with all legal requirements which relate to casual workers, including holiday and sick pay and freedom to gain other employment. Casual workers also benefit from general incentive schemes.”

The company’s profits rose by 7.4 per cent this year to a staggering £1.2 billion.