USDAW and Community tackle high-street abuse

Unions representing workers on the UK’s high streets are demanding an end to abuse – both physical and verbal – of their members.

As part of a “United Against Abuse” campaign, members of shopworkers’ union USDAW handed out red cards to shoppers on “Respect for Shopworkers Day” in July, reminding them that verbal abuse is a form of intimidation suffered by millions of retail staff every year.

A new USDAW survey has found that 95% of retail staff have been verbally abused at work. And the union’s members report that graphic swearing, sexist comments, homophobic abuse and racist taunts by out-of-control shoppers are all rising sharply.

“Our research has found that at least half a million shopworkers are verbally abused every working day,” said general secretary John Hannett. “Most shoppers would never think of physically assaulting a shopworker, but many seem to think it is alright to scream the most disgusting abuse into [their] faces.”

Meanwhile, reports of rising violence and other safety concerns have prompted the Community union to launch a campaign to protect its members working in betting shops.

The campaign will focus on issues of security and risk assessments relating to violence, and the union is calling on members to report incidents of verbal and physical abuse.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that, although verbal threats and abuse are an everyday occurrence for many workers in betting shops, few steps have been taken to deal with it effectively,” said Community organiser Heather Meldrum. “Clearly this situation cannot continue.”