Usdaw highlights increased abuse of workers shopworkers

During the opening debate Dave McCrossen, Usdaw deputy general secretary, said: “Sadly, we were shocked to see Covid-safe measures, that were introduced to keep staff and shoppers safe, becoming flashpoints for abuse from some customers. The vast majority of customers recognised and fully supported the efforts being made by staff in shops, but even at the height of the pandemic, a significant minority of customers were abusing and threatening shopworkers.

“Usdaw’s research shows that thousands of retail workers faced abuse. Of even greater concern, we found that verbal abuse of shopworkers doubled during the crisis and out of 5,000 retail workers surveyed, 200 had been physically assaulted.”

In August Usdaw launched a petition calling on the government to make it a specific offence to abuse, threaten or assault a shopworker. So far, more than 60,000 people have signed the online petition – at 100,000 signatures the government have to formally consider it for debate in Parliament.

McCrossen added: “I urge everyone to sign it today, and to encourage your family and friends to do so too. During this crisis, shopworkers were finally recognised as key workers. Now the time has come for all of our key workers to get the protections they deserve.”