Protection of Workers Bill progresses at Scottish Parliament

The move marks a crucial step forward in the progress of the bill, which will create a new statutory offence of assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker and provide further legal protections when the worker is carrying out their statutory duties such as age-restricted sales.

SGF chief executive, Dr Pete Cheema, said: “We are delighted that the Protection of Workers Bill has successfully passed Stage 2 of the parliamentary process. SGF has worked with Daniel Johnson MSP since 2016 to call for additional protections for shop workers and has been a committed supporter of his Bill. It is critical that we secure these key protections for shop workers and enshrine them into law.

“Retailers and shopworkers have been the glue that has held our communities together – during these dangerous and uncertain times caused by the pandemic – indeed you could call them the fourth emergency service. Lets’ make sure that we grasp this once in a generation opportunity to secure greater protection for Scotland’s shopworkers which Daniel Johnson’s bill would deliver.”

The bill will now proceed to the final Stage 3 vote before it can be made law, a date for this has yet to be confirmed.