Freedom From Fear is the campaign in Parliament, says top aide to David Blunkett

Freedom From Fear, the Usdaw campaign against violence and abuse of shopworkers in the UK, is the most effective trade union campaign in Parliament, according to Leigh MP Andy Burnham.

Addressing a conference in Warrington, the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Secretary David Blunkett said the campaign “touched on all the big issues” in every MP's constituency.

Mr Burnham was speaking at the Retail Trades Conference, organised by leading retail union Usdaw, and attended by over 100 members and officials of the union.

The main theme of the conference was the rising levels of violence and verbal abuse faced by shopworkers across Britain. Latest industry figures reveal a shopworker is attacked or verbally abused in the UK every minute of the working day. Usdaw is leading the way in seeking to reverse this trend, through its high-profile nationwide campaign called Freedom From Fear.

Andy Burnham told the conference: "The people are saying enough is enough. It has been softly softly for too long. As a society, we need to show that we mean business. We need to fight back and say this is not right. We need to get back some basic standards of respect."

The MP said the Labour Government placed anti-social, "loutish" behaviour high on its list of priorities. He said: "After a slow start, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are proving their worth as one of the most effective ways of tackling this behaviour and are the way forward."

Usdaw, which is the UK's fifth largest trade union, with over 325,000 members (including 250,000 who are shopworkers), launched its Freedom From Fear campaign last year. Central aims are to raise awareness of this largely forgotten issue of violence and abuse, promote greater safety in the workplace and to campaign for retail crime to be made a police Key Performance Indicator.

Andy Burnham said the latter aim was a "perfectly legitimate and valid" issue to raise with the Home Office.

John Hannett, Usdaw's Deputy General Secretary, said: "Andy Burnham is one of many MPs, including David Blunkett and Prime Minister Tony Blair, who have supported our campaign. I echo Andy's comments at the conference - enough really is enough. Our members deserve respect and the right to go to work without the fear of being attacked or abused by customers. Sadly, this is a common, everyday experience for many shopworkers."

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

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