Freedom From Fear Campaign sprouts via Brussels to the world

Harrowing personal accounts from victims of attacks and abuse in UK shops will form part of an important debate taking place in Brussels tomorrow (Wednesday).

Shopworkers' union Usdaw takes its Freedom From Fear campaign message to the capital of Belgium and an audience of union officials from all over the world, as well as European employers.

Usdaw's General Secretary Sir Bill Connor will address the Workplace Security Debate, at a conference organised by global union organisation, UNI.

The testimony of Usdaw members, who have been physically attacked and verbally abused while simply trying to do their jobs, will provide powerful first-hand evidence.

Latest industry figures reveal that a shopworker is attacked or verbally abused by a customer (or customers) every minute of the working day in Britain. In 2002, 16,200 shopworkers were physically attacked, 48,600 shopworkers were threatened and 70,000 were verbally abused.

Sir Bill Connor will tell the conference: "Violence and abuse plagues our members in retail in the UK and across Europe. It affects them, their families and their lives every day. It is one of the biggest issues for our members but too many shopworkers suffer in silence. Shocking as the statistics are, we know that they are just the tip of iceberg."

Usdaw launched its Freedom From Fear campaign last year, in response to concerns about the issue of violence in the retail workplace. The aims include to raise awareness of the escalating problem, improve security measures and to make retail crime a police Key Performance Indicator.

The campaign has been driven by Usdaw's members, many of whom have personal experience of attacks and abuse. A survey of Usdaw reps found that nearly half had seen violent assaults on staff in their stores in the last year, while verbal abuse was a daily occurrence in a third of stores.

UNI (Union Network International) is a network that promotes international cooperation between unions. It has more than 900 affiliated unions in 140 countries, representing over 15 million members.

• For more information and the latest news on the campaign, visit Freedom From Fear.

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