Chris Riley

Background reading: JJB Sports employee and union organiser Chris Riley is sacked after organising strike action at the JJB Sports Wigan depot

All sorts protest outside JJB Sports stores against the sacking of JJB Sports employee and union organiser Chris Riley

The protest outside the Shepherd's Bush JJB Sports store is quiet until mall Security turns up to try and move the protestors on. Security is two weedy-looking, middle-aged guys who are wearing dark jackets, light trousers, plain shoes, and old and cloudy plastic badges.

The protest isn't huge at this point - maybe ten people altogether, at least three of whom are not protestors, but SWP worker-bees, who have clearly been pressed into putting an hour in at the protest, to try and shift leftover copies of this week's Socialist Worker - but the two security guys still look a bit worn on it. Being paid bugger-all to protect JJB Sports stores from people who are protesting about being paid bugger-all to work in JJB Sports stores probably does get on your wick towards the end of the week.

Life doesn't improve too much when they try to assert themselves, either.

Sacked JJB Sports union steward Chris Riley talks about taking on Wigan Athletic's very own Dave Whelan.

A richly-deserved crappy Christmas is heading the way of one Dave Whelan, owner of Wigan Athletic and executive director of the JJB Sports chain.

Staff at the JJB Sports distribution depot in Wigan have voted to strike for three days between Christmas and New Year, in protest against the sacking of GMB steward Chris Riley. Riley played an instrumental role in organising strike action in November this year - a strike which led to union members at the depot winning their fight for better pay and conditions (workers like Riley were only getting £180 in the hand a week at that point). As soon as the new deal was sorted, Riley - an effective and popular union organiser - was sacked from JJB Sports on the usual trumped-up gross misconduct charge.

Report and interviews from Organising for Fighting Unions conference on 11 November

Update on JJB Sports strike status sent by GMB Thursday 16 November 2006

Wigan AFC and JJB Sports owner and premier-league wanker Dave Whelan wins this month's Supreme Corporate Arsehole Award, as far as the hundreds of people at today's Organising for Fighting Trade Unions conference are concerned.

Dave treats his staff in the JJB Sports distribution warehouse in Wigan like garbage. Their salaries stink, and their reasonable requests for better money and terms continue to fall on Dave's deaf ears.