Monday, November 5, marks the start of Respect for Shopworkers Week and a retail union is calling on MPs to show their support by backing a new Bill that seeks to give shopworkers legal protection against violence and abuse.
The Protection of Workers Bill was introduced into Parliament by Labour MP Graeme Morrice and is scheduled to get a second reading in February 2013. The Bill aims to reduce incidents of violence, threats and abuse against all workers whose job brings them into face-to-face contact with members of the public. The Bill would create a new offence relating to assaults on public facing workers, one that will carry a maximum sentence of 12 months and a £10,000 fine.
During Respect for Shopworkers Week, which runs until 9 November, Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) people in shops and supermarkets are holding campaign events to urge colleagues and customers to ask their MP to back the new Bill. Also planned, reminders to customers to ‘Keep Your Cool at Christmas’, a time when incidents of violence and abuse against shopworkers tends to increase.
Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett said:
“Respect for Shopworkers Week is a great opportunity for retail staff to highlight to both colleagues and customers that abuse, threats and violence against people trying to do their job is totally unacceptable and should never be tolerated.
“Despite our Freedom From Fear campaign helping to raise awareness of the problem and reducing the number of incidents, it’s a sad fact that every minute of every day a shop worker somewhere is assaulted, threatened or abused. That’s why our members now think it’s time to give shop workers extra legal protection. We hope MPs will support them by backing the Protection of Workers Bill.
“Our campaign stalls will highlight to shoppers the problems shopworkers can face, particularly in the run up to Christmas, when customers are stressed, stores are really busy and sometimes tempers get frayed. That’s why we are asking shoppers to show respect for shopworkers and to ‘Keep your cool at Christmas’.”
