Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “Over two-thirds of our members working in retail are suffering abuse from customers, with far too many experiencing threats and violence. Despite efforts from retailers to make stores safe and secure, high levels of retail crime continue, with official figures showing that shoplifting has doubled since the pandemic. We are concerned by the disproportionate impact of this issue with women, young workers and Black workers, most often on the receiving end of the worst types of abuse and harassment.
“There is a clear need for legislation that creates a specific offence for abusing, threatening or assaulting a retail worker. This legislation must carry a stiff penalty to make it clear that the abuse of retail workers is unacceptable. We welcome plans in Northern Ireland to introduce a new standalone offence through the Sentencing Bill, with similar laws already in place in Scotland and currently going through Parliament for England and Wales.
“We also need to ensure that the legislation is supported by proper funding for community policing, to keep our town centres safe, and proper support for the justice system, so that justice can be delivered. These will continue to be the aims of Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear campaign’, which seeks to deliver the safe working environments that retail workers deserve.”
Usdaw is calling on the ICTU to:
- Support Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear Campaign; highlighting the toll retail crime is taking on retail workers.
- Campaign for all retail workers to be protected by effective legislation against abuse, threats and violence.
- Make the case to employers to protect retail workers and enforce zero-tolerance policies in stores.
- Campaign for extra funding for community policing, so that there is a significant increase in uniformed patrols in neighbourhoods and town centres.
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 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
Northern Irish voices from the frontline: These are some of the comments Northern Irish shop workers shared when responding to Usdaw’s survey:
- “Yelled at for things being priced incorrectly when running them through tills. Had big bottles and stones thrown at me while on tills.”
- “Verbal abuse every day. Customer become very loud, sometimes using foul language.”
- “Shoving me because I refused a proxy sale.”
- “Intimidation, name calling. People getting mad because they don’t agree with the store policies of self-service after 10pm.”
- “Drunk people who get refused sale throwing around threats and bad language.”
- “I have had items thrown at me by customers, screamed at, finger pointing. A customer said he would be waiting for me in the street when I finished my shift.”
- “I have long hair which is usually tied back in work. I’ve had customers pull it to get my attention.”
Usdaw’s survey of 167 Northern Ireland retail staff found that in 2024 (national average):
- 80% have experienced verbal abuse (77%).
- 47% were threatened by a customer (53%).
- 5% were assaulted (10%).
Full report: www.usdaw.org.uk/FFFReport2024
Police Service of Northern Ireland Recorded Crime Statistics show since the pandemic in 2020/21, the number of incidents of shoplifting has doubled from 4,464 to 8,935.
Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shop workers and the Government. www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear
Northern Ireland Sentencing Bill
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/6
Crime and Policing Bill 2025: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion