Paddy Lillis – Usdaw general secretary says: “When stores are busy, customers can get frustrated with queues and stock quickly disappearing off the shelves; too often that can turn into anger towards retail workers. Incidents of violence, threats and abuse against retail staff are already worryingly high.
“Interim figures from this year’s Usdaw survey reveal that one in seven of our members working in retail suffered abuse from customers, with far too many experiencing threats and violence. My Black Friday message to shoppers is clear. Enjoy your bargain hunting, keep your cool and respect retail workers.”
Voices from the frontline: These are some of the comments retail workers shared when responding to Usdaw’s survey:
- “Aggressive and rude, no manners, just push their way in. Blame you for things not being stocked anymore. Hit with trollies or baskets without a sorry.”
- “Customer threw items at myself and colleagues. Big gangs of youths behaving badly and refusing to leave the premises when asked to do so.”
- “Homophobic comments, threats to hurt me because I refused a sale, mocking me when asked for ID. I was once held up at knifepoint. Often told to f**k off.”
- “As I was leaving work, I was confronted by a man who came straight at me and physically hit my shoulder without any reason or motive.”
- “Threatened and attempted assault for note checking. Been asked out, he refused to take it I already have a partner. Pushed me against the wall.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Interim results of Usdaw’s 2024 survey, based on 4,073 responses, show that: 69% were verbally abused, 45% were threatened. 17% of retail workers had been assaulted. Of those who were abused, threatened or assaulted, 70% said that shoplifting was the trigger, with two-thirds of them related to a drug and/or alcohol addiction. The final results of the survey will be published in March 2025.
Usdaw’s Freedom From Fear Campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, retail workers and the Government.
www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on BlueSky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion