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Violence against shopworkers needs to be taken seriously by the Scottish Government says Usdaw

Date: 03 March 2020 Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw today gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee in support of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Bill, which is being promoted by Daniel Johnson MSP (Labour, Edinburgh Southern).
As well as taking evidence from Usdaw, the committee also heard from: The Law Society of Scotland; Police Scotland; Scottish Grocers' Federation; Scottish Retail Consortium; The Scottish Beer and Pub Association; Co-operative Group, and GMB.
 
Shocking statistics from Usdaw’s annual survey which suggests that an average Scottish shopworker is verbally abused, threatened or assaulted 17* times a year, which is more than once every three weeks. While not all shopworkers suffer to this extent, some experience much higher levels of abuse, threats and violence. Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ survey of over 1,000 retail staff shows that last year:
  • Over 60% of Scottish shopworkers experienced verbal abuse,
  • 32% were threatened by a customer,
  • 2.3% were assaulted, which amounts to more than 15* assaults every day across all of Scotland’s shopworkers.
Stewart Forrest – Usdaw Scottish Divisional Officer says: “Violence, threats and abuse against workers is totally unacceptable and we thank the committee for the opportunity to give evidence in support of Daniel Johnson’s Bill. Today we saw the representatives of retailers and the trade unions speak with one voice on this issue and that in itself should make MSPs sit up and listen.
 
“It was disappointing to hear the Law Society of Scotland and Police Scotland repeatedly say that they don’t have the necessary statistics to understand where the system is letting down shopworkers. 5 years ago Usdaw expressed concern that the Scottish Government had stopped recording assaults of shopworkers, at a time when we believed that incidents of violence at work were increasing, which according to our surveys has proved to be the case. So, we called on the Scottish Government to commit to once again record incidents of violence at work. Clearly the legal profession and the police do not believe that is happening.
 
“It is regrettable that the Scottish Government has in the past rejected a protection of workers bill and then stopped collecting data on the number of assaults. However, they now have the opportunity to back the protection of workers legislation promoted by Daniel Johnson MSP. We can see no justification for not protecting shopworkers, who perform an important role in our communities and have a legal responsibility to enforce the law on age-related sales.
 
“Life on the frontline of retail can be pretty tough for many shopworkers and there is still a lot to do to help protect them. We launched our Freedom From Fear Campaign in the face of growing concerns amongst retail staff about violence, threats and abuse. The campaign works with employers to promote respect.

“There needs to be a simple stand-alone offence that is widely recognised and understood by the public, police, the judiciary and most importantly criminals. Retail staff have a crucial role in our communities and that role must be valued and respected, they deserve the protection of the law.”
 
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.
 
Scottish results of Usdaw’s 2019 survey, based on 1,027 responses, show that last year: 60.4% were verbally abused, 32.2% were threatened, 8% of shopworkers had been assaulted during their career, with 2.3% assaulted last year. * When extrapolated over circa 240,000 retail workers, these survey results amount to over 15 shopworkers assaulted a day and on average a shopworker experiences 17 incidents of abuse, threats and violence a year. Usdaw believes this is an underestimation because the survey analysis assumes each respondent was only assaulted once last year and it was conducted in mainly larger trade union organised stores, which tend to be safer than smaller non-unionised workplaces.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion

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