Nick Ireland - Usdaw Divisional Officer says: “It is right to make the wearing of face coverings mandatory in shops and we welcome today’s Welsh Government announcement. We have been lobbying for this for some time as a way of helping to limit the spread of Covid-19 and protect retail staff.
 
“We encourage customers to support shop workers by remembering to wear a face covering, unless they are covered by an exemption. We expect employers to display signage to remind customers about the rules. It needs to be made clear that shop workers are not responsible for enforcing the law. We are concerned that it may be another flashpoint for abuse of staff, which has doubled during the pandemic.
 
“Face coverings are not a replacement for existing social distancing measures, such as screens at tills, distance markers, hygiene measures and limits on the number of customers in stores. We expect employers to keep these in place and support our members in making sure that customers follow the rules.
 
“We ask all customers to wear a face covering and keep following social distancing measures. We also ask them to remember that shop workers are doing their best in a difficult situation and to always treat them with the respect they deserve.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 400,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion