News

On November the 11th, UNI affiliated Unions Usdaw launches Respect Week saying 'abuse is not a part of a shopworkers job as a response to increasing third party violence in shops.

Respect for Shopworkers Week 2013 takes place on 11 – 15 November. It is an annual event where shopworkers talk to the public about the problems of violence threats and abuse, asking customers to 'keep their cool'. Part of the campaign will be encouraging shopworker not to take abuse as part of the job and report incidents to their manager.

Usdaw's Freedom From Fear Survey Report 2013, the interim results of shopworkers experiences over the last year, from the first 1,844 responses, are:

• Victims of verbal abuse: 49%
• Shopworkers threatened: 35%
• Violent assaults: 4%

Of these incidents the following didn't report it to their manager:

• Abuse 46%
• Threats 33%
• Violence 17%

John Hannett – Usdaw General Secretary says: "It is very worrying that 1 in 6 shopworkers who have been physically assaulted did not report the incident to their employer or the police. We are shocked that so many are suffering in silence and I would urge shopworkers to report all incidents, to give us and the employers the chance to sort the problem.

"We are seeking a change in the law to provide for stiffer sentences for those who assault workers serving the public. There is a real need to address the scourge of violence against workers. This proposal would make it clear to potential assailants that attacking shopworkers is totally unacceptable and reassure retail staff that reporting incidents will result in proper punishment for the offender.

"Our message is very clear: Abuse and physical attacks are not part of a shopworkers job!"

New Clause 26, 'Assault of Workers' was moved by Jack Dromey MP and debated in Parliament on 15 October (Col 628).  The amendment was lost by 224 votes to 286 (Col 636) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131015/debtext/131015-0002.htm

UNI Commerce strongly supports the yearly initiative of its affiliated union Usdaw. Organising a week of actions and awareness raising on the issue of third party violence is a good practice to share among UNI Commerce affiliates. In fact, third party violence is a major concern across the sector in Europe and all over the world. Commerce workers are exposed everyday to risks of violence threats, verbal and in the worst case physical abuses. The low reporting of incidences remains one of the biggest challenges, not only in the UK, and is linked amongst others to both the lack of awareness and the understanding of third-party violence.

In response to this problem, in 2010, together with its counterpart at European level, UNI Europa reached an agreement on on multi-sectoral guidelines aimed to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work.

The aim of the Guidelines is to ensure that each workplace has a results-oriented policy which addresses the issue of third-party violence. The Guidelines set out the practical steps that can be taken by employers, workers and their representatives/trade unions to reduce, prevent and mitigate problems. The steps reflect the best practices developed in our sector among which the Usdaw campaign “Freedom from fear” to protect shopworkers from violence and abuse was highlighted as a good practice to tackle this problem.

More information can be found on Usdaw website: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fourth biggest and the fastest growing Trade Union with over 432,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 17% in the last five years and by nearly a third in the last decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the Union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.