Usdaw thanks Daniel Johnson MSP for continuing to fight for the safety of retail workers

In this week’s First Minister’s Questions, Daniel Johnson asked: “The First Minister might have read an article that was published two days ago on the BBC website highlighting a spiralling pattern of violence against retail workers in my constituency. It detailed various incidents, including a business owner having a knife drawn on him, a customer being hospitalised, a shop owner being punched and a store manager being throttled. Those are not isolated incidents. Last year alone, 5,500 incidents were recorded under the Protection of Workers Act, which I took through Parliament. That was a 46 per cent increase in the rise of such incidents.

“Does the First Minister agree that greater priority needs to be given to community and response policing so that such crimes can be treated with the expediency and seriousness that they undoubtedly deserve? Perhaps above all else, at this time of year, when many of us will be using the shops, does he agree with the campaign that is being run by the Scottish Retail Consortium and Usdaw to urge the public to treat retail workers with kindness at Christmas?”

The First Minister responded: “We should treat retail workers with kindness 365 days a year. At the root of the issue that Mr Johnson raises is criminal conduct and the fact that people are not behaving appropriately. Whether that is about criminal conduct or disrespect to retail workers, it is part of the same pattern. I agree with the sentiments that Mr Johnson expresses. The Government has put £3 million into the budget as a specific intervention to tackle retail crime, which will be taken forward as a partnership between the retail sector and the police.”

Tony Doonan – Usdaw regional secretary for Scotland says: “Violence and abuse is not an acceptable part of the job and much more needs to be done to protect shop workers. Daniel’s protection of workers law is a beginning not an end to tackling the problem. We welcome any investment in policing, particularly if it is targeted at retail crime, but it will only be effective if retailers and staff, through their trade union, are fully involved. We have to ensure that the protection of workers law is central to tackling a growing wave of retail crime and Usdaw looks forward to working with Police Scotland to make that happen.

“Shop workers deserve far more respect than they receive. It is shocking that over two-thirds of our members working in retail are suffering abuse from customers, with far too many experiencing threats and violence. Seven in ten of these incidents were triggered by theft from shops, which is clearly the result of a near doubling in police-recorded shoplifting across Scotland since the pandemic.

“We will always be grateful to Daniel Johnson for securing ground-breaking legislation, which for the first time introduced a standalone protection of retail workers law and is now seen as the benchmark for future legislation across the whole of the UK. The level of incidents caught by the protection of workers law show that it was absolutely necessary and timely given the current epidemic of retail crime.”