Retail workers considering leaving sector as abuse rises

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) 2023 survey of its members found many people want to leave retail because of incidents they are dealing with, from verbal abuse to physical attacks.   

Tony Doonan, regional secretary, says what retail workers are experiencing is "awful" and says one member even reported a pregnant co-worker in Glasgow being assaulted.  

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He said: "In March this year, we released the figures of last year’s survey, and it was really concerning.  

"70% told us they experienced verbal abuse and that was up from 68% the previous year.  

"46% told us they were threatened by a customer and that was up from 43% and probably most worrying of all the members that told us they were actually physically assaulted had more than doubled from 5% up to 18%."

He continued: "I’ve got a quote from a member in Glasgow specifically where they said they’ve experienced ‘shouting at me, getting in my face, calling me names, swearing, using derogatory female terms, a pregnant member of staff got assaulted and attacked in a car park after finishing their shift’."

Tony Doonan (Image: Supplied) Respondents were also asked what the triggers for violence and abuse were with 61% saying they experienced it due to shoplifting, with the main factors for theft being the cost-of-living crisis and addition, and 62% of workers said they experienced incidents because a customer was frustrated with main causes  being self-service checkout issues and lack of stock or staff.  

Enforcement of the law, particularly related to alcohol sales, was also an issue for workers with 48% of workers experiencing that as a trigger while 54% of non-white workers experienced racial harassment and 41% of women suffered sexism.  

In 2003, Usdaw launched its annual Freedom From Fear campaign in response to members’ concerns about increasing levels of violence and abuse.  

It aims to help raise public awareness and give workers the confidence to speak out, report abuse and not accept it as part of the job. 

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Respect for Shopworkers Week, which runs from November 11-17, 2024, is an integral part of the campaign as the run up to Christmas is the busiest time for retailers and is when Usdaw has found most workers are physically or verbally attacked.  

In the years following the launch of the campaign official statistics, reports from employers and the Union’s surveys suggested the problem was not getting worse and in some respects was being reduced.  

However, in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in abuse.  

Tony said: "During the pandemic supermarket workers had to keep working, they were essential, and what we were seeing was when they were having to bring in restrictions on some items shop workers were being physically assaulted.  

"Even after the pandemic some of that behaviour has carried on. 

"Post pandemic there’s been a rise in 2022 and then again in 2023 and I would say that trend will continue when we do the survey in November."

(Image: Newsquest)

We previously reported The Protection of Workers Act came into force in Scotland in August 2021, making it a specific offence to threaten or abuse shop workers. 

Despite this the number of incidents has risen.  

Tony said: "[The bill] doesn’t seem to have been a deterrent because it’s one thing passing the law but if it’s not being enforced then there's no deterrent.  

"The police don’t seem to have the resources to tackle the problem."

While some people may believe shoplifting is a ‘victimless crime’ Tony emphasizes that is not the case.  

He commented: "Even if the shop worker hasn’t been attacked, it's quite frightening when people are coming in and it’s obvious, they’re in to shoplift or stealing to order.  

"We’ve heard these criminal gangs come in armed and they’re making it clear nobody’s going to get in their way."