Despite this, nearly 21% of shareholders voted for an independent review of working practices.
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Legal & General Investment Management said following the vote that Hellawell should step down “immediately”.
He said the firm was trying to trace affected workers, some of who had “moved on”.
In a stormy meeting of the retail firm’s shareholders, Ashley responded to criticism from Steve Turner, Unite’s assistant general secretary, by saying the union was “probably” responsible for the company’s woes.
The vote means that Sports Direct must hold another vote, in which Mr Ashley’s 55% shareholding will be included, in order for Mr Hellawell to remain as chairman.
Sports Direct has been under the spotlight for months after a newspaper investigation exposed conditions at Shirebrook, amid claims by MPs that it was being run like a “Victorian warehouse”.
Sports Direct, controlled by the combative and controversial Mike Ashley, is used to squaring up to unhappy investors, having suffered several revolts in recent years, notably on a multimillion-pound bonus scheme for Ashley.
It was also revealed that Mr Hellawell, who has faced calls from leading shareholder groups to leave his position, offered his resignation at the weekend.
It will also suspend its “six strikes and you’re out” disciplinary procedure and pledged to pay warehouse staff above the National Minimum Wage.
But this time the scale and intensity of the anger over the group’s treatment of its workers at the huge Shirebrook warehouse – known locally as “the gulag” – is unprecedented.
In response to Tuesday’s report Sports Direct said it would engage with shareholders to improve its corporate governance, appoint a worker’s representative to its board and offer directly employed shop workers the option of switching from so-called “zero hours” contracts to ones with a guaranteed minimum amount of work.
The board also said that it would be reviewing its model of using agency workers in the warehouse, rather than employing staff directly in a review due to be completed in 2017.
Sports Direct independent shareholders delivered a blow to boss Mike Ashley by voting against chairman Keith Hellawell’s reappointment.
She said Mr Hellawell had “not shown sufficient leadership” and making “minor changes” to its employment practices was not enough.
But Hellawell only got just over 47% of the votes in an independent resolution to re-elect him, with almost 53% against. “Despite our relatively low passive holdings in Sports Direct, we believe that good governance is key for any company in which we invest, regardless of our stake”.
“Sports Direct continues to be reckless with shareholders’ money and we are glad to see other investors join us in speaking out about poor governance within the company and across the industry, a clear sign of the growing influence of corporate governance amongst United Kingdom investors, following a spring of discontent at a number of major AGMs”.
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“A radical overhaul of their corporate governance arrangements needs to be the next step”.
