Dr. Tony Kearon Labour and Cooperative Councillor and Criminologist
Tony supports calls for tougher laws to protect retail staff facing violence, threats and intimidation, and he calls on us all to support the retail staff we all rely on:
“USDAW are a union that represent many of the workers who have kept things going during Covid, and we owe those workers a debt of thanks. That’s why its is really depressing to see the results that have just been published from a survey the union has conducted with its members. You can see the results for yourself here. At the height of lockdown, pretty much the only people I saw outside of my own family were the cheerful and hardworking staff in my local shops. But 8 out of 10 retail workers report that abuse from customers has got worse during lockdown, 60% have been threatened by a customer and almost 10% have been physically assaulted. This is not acceptable in any way. Most customers are well behaved, but we must not tolerate the actions of the abusive and violent minority – violence, threats and intimidation are most definitely NOT part of the job. That’s why I fully support USDAW’s call for tougher laws to protect people who are just doing their job, and making things better for us all in the process.”