At Sports Direct’s Annual General Meeting, Chairman Keith Hellawell defended the company’s use of zero-hour contracts, reports the Scotsman. Last year the company promised to offer guaranteed hours to its workers and transfer some of its warehouse staff to permanent contracts. However, it failed to meet its pledges. Hellawell said, “It is still a legal form of employment in this country. A very large proportion of our workers are happy to maintain that flexibility. We are constantly looking at ways of keeping our workforce happy.” Hellawell also addressed the company’s failure to pay back some its workers and said that the firm wanted to pay its workers what they are owed “as quickly as possible”, but it had become legally complicated because of its use of third-party agencies. In Sports Direct’s Annual General Meeting, the Chairman’s re-election was backed by independent shareholders with 53% supporting his re-election despite criticism and protest over his duties and the company’s working practices.