Shop workers report huge rise in abuse and attacks

Shocking figures published in September report a massive rise in the level of attacks, abuse and threats suffered by shopworkers.

The British Retail Consortium released the findings of its 11th annual Retail Crime Survey, covering the year 2003. It found that:

* incidence of verbal abuse rose to 159 cases per 100 outlets (from 70 in 2002);

* threats of violence increased to 47 per 1,000 staff (from 18 in 2002); and

* physical attacks were also up since 2002, from six to seven per 1,000 staff.

John Hannett, general secretary of shopworkers' union Usdaw, said its members were working in an "increasingly hostile and dangerous environment".

Usdaw has also published a regional breakdown of its own study, which charted the experiences of over 1,600 shopworkers during a week in June 2004. This also revealed high levels of verbal abuse, threats and physical attacks suffered by shopworkers.

Across the UK as a whole, 51% of the respondents to the Usdaw survey said they are fairly or very concerned about verbal abuse, 53% about threats and 57% about violence. The regional breakdown shows variations between areas, but clearly indicates that the problem exists across the UK.

For more information, visit Usdaw's website at www.usdaw.org.uk/usdaw/news/1095758656_6003.html