The toughened glass screens, which fully enclose tills and stand above head-height, have already been installed at more than 110 Tesco sites, and are now being rolled out to more than 250 additional stores as part of a multi-million-pound investment in safety. The screens put a defensive barrier between staff and potential attackers, protecting shopworkers against both physical assault and from the threat of having liquids or other items thrown at them.
 
Daniel Adams - Usdaw National Officer says: “Usdaw has been working closely with Tesco on measures that the business can take to improve safety and welcomes the introduction of these additional security measures for employees. However, this is not something that can be solved by employers and unions alone. With such appallingly high levels of violence and abuse much more needs to be done to help protect shopworkers and give them the respect they deserve. Part of this has to be the introduction of a specific offence for acts of violence against shopworkers.”
 
Jason Tarry - Tesco UK CEO says: “The rise in retail crime has been widely talked about in recent weeks, but the most troubling aspect is the surge in assaults and abuse we have seen against our colleagues in stores. This is something impacting the whole retail industry, and something too many of my colleagues have had to endure first-hand, with incidents of violence against our colleagues up by a third year-on-year. The safety of our colleagues is our number one priority. That is why we have rolled out a number of measures, including these screens, to help protect our colleagues from the small minority of people who would do them harm, and offer them additional peace of mind when they come into work each day.”
 
Last year, the Government made attacking shopworkers an aggravating factor in convictions, meaning stronger sentences for those who assault retail workers. Tesco’s Group CEO Ken Murphy recently asked the Government to go further and make violence against retail workers an offence in its own right.
 
Labour MSP Daniel Johnson successfully introduced such a law in Scotland. Labour MP Alex Norris proposed, in the House of Commons, that it should be extended to the rest of the UK, but that was rejected by the Government. Usdaw has consistently called for a protection of workers law through the union’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign, which is backed by a wide range of retail employers.
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 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 www.usdaw.org.uk
 
Final results of the Usdaw 2022 survey, based on 7,752 responses, show that (last year’s results in brackets): 74.26% (89%) were verbally abused, 49.25% (63%) were threatened. 7.92% (12%) had been assaulted. 40.88% said violence, threats and abuse caused them anxiety at work and 29.97% are now considering changing job. Top triggers for abuse: 34% shoplifting and armed robbery, along with 16% age-restricted sales. The full report can be found at: www.usdaw.org.uk/FFFReport2022
 
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/6
 
Assaults on Retail Workers (Offences) Bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2725
 
Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear Campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shopworkers and the Government.
www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion