Importance of protecting retail workers highlighted ahead of Respect for Shopworkers Week
Ahead of this year’s Respect for Shopworkers Week (11th to 17th November), NR examined some of the startling figures uncovered from Usdaw’s annual survey of retailers.
The latest recorded crime statistics from the PSNI shows a 13.4% uplift in shoplifting in the year to the end of June 2024, with incidents of the crime almost doubling in Northern Ireland since the pandemic.
While overall theft offences were down by 2.2%, across the PSNI breakdown of types of theft offences, shoplifting was the only area with an increase in incidents – rising from 4,464 in 2020-2021 to 8,890.
Usdaw has been running its Freedom From Fear campaign since 2002 highlighting the violence and abuse retail workers have to face.
Now in its 22nd year, the campaign has worked with the public, retail employers, the police and governments to protect retail workers. From 2007 to 2023 they surveyed between 1500 and 8000 shopworkers each year to gather first-hand accounts on the extent of violence, threats and abuse against shop staff.
The distinctive feature of the Usdaw surveys is that most responses are based on face-to-face interviews conducted by Usdaw reps with fellow colleagues in shops. As such, they are not reliant on workers using reporting systems to communicate incidents to their employers or to the police.
In response to the survey, shopworkers in Northern Ireland shared their experiences of these incidents, outlining what happened to them. Some of these include:
- “Spat at, potatoes thrown at me during evening shift. Drunk man called me a c**t when I refused his alcohol sale and tried to ram the trolley into me.”
- “Had a basket of shopping thrown at me on the customer service desk.”
- “Sexual assault, grabbed by customer, tried to kiss and getting in personal space.”
- “We get verbally abused nearly every day, especially asking customers for ID.”
In early August this year, Justice Minister Naomi Long announced the introduction of a new offence of assaulting a person providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing services to the public. The new offence will be introduced to the Assembly by way of a Sentencing Bill, providing the protection retail workers need.
During this year’s Respect for Shopworkers Week – from 11th to 17th November – workers will be able to complete a survey, which can be found here https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NMYOYN/
You can find out more about Respect for Shopworkers Week, including running your own campaign in-store and ordering materials for your event by visiting: https://www.usdaw.org.uk/campaigns/freedom-from-fear/#Respect
TO READ THE FULL FEATURE IN NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE
