Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “It is deeply disturbing to see panic buying back and it reminds us of the dark days of the first lockdown. During that period retail staff suffered a doubling of abuse from customers and we do not want to see that repeated. Abuse should never be just a part of the job and there is no excuse for customers to take their frustrations out on staff.
“The empty shelves and empty petrol pumps that we’ve seen this week are entirely the fault of the Government and their complete failure to get a grip on supply issues. Yet who takes the brunt of people’s frustrations? It’s not Boris Johnson. It’s over-stretched, underpaid, exhausted workers who are doing their best in extremely difficult circumstances. The Government must take responsibility for this crisis.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 380,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades.
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter
@UsdawUnion