Shop workers need to be protected from violence, threats and abuse – Daniel Johnson MSP

Retail and retail workers are in crisis. High streets had seen shop units emptying as retailers struggled to compete with Amazon before anyone had heard of Covid.

Retail staff will get greater protections under the law against violence, threats and abuse if Daniel Johnson's bill is passed by MSPs (Picture: Andrew Yates/AFP via Getty Images)

Now the sector finds itself policing social distancing while the lockdown accelerates the pre-existing threats to the industry.

As ever, the full force of these pressures largely falls on those working behind shop counters and on the shop floor. Shop workers have risen to the challenge of upholding these rules and keeping us safe as we buy the essentials for life. While most of us are grateful for these efforts, others have reacted with violence and abuse.

“I’d get a test if I were you, I’ve got Covid.” That’s what was shouted at one worker who asked a customer to wear a mask. Shop staff have been spat at for asking customers to social distance and stock has been deliberately smashed in retaliation for item limits being imposed.

15 retail staff assaulted every day

Much like the economic problems facing retail, these contemptuous acts faced by shop workers are not new, but the pandemic has definitely made them worse.

According to Usdaw, the shop workers union, 15 retail workers are assaulted on an average day in Scotland. In a given year, one in three will be threatened and three in five abused. Like the economic crisis facing the sector, these issues were not created by the pandemic but it has certainly made them worse. Usdaw estimate that instances of violence, threats and abuse have doubled since March. We have to rely on estimates because there is no official recording of this and many workers have given up reporting these crimes because they are seldom a priority for the authorities.

Today, the Scottish Parliament has an opportunity to take a small but important step to respond and improve this crisis faced by retail workers. The third and final stage of my Protection of Retail Workers Bill will be debated and voted on. As well as creating a new offence of assaulting or abusing a shop worker, it also establishes a statutory aggravation when this occurs in connection to the sale of age-restricted goods and services.

This second element is particularly important. Shop workers are personally liable for upholding the law regarding age restricted items. Failure to ask for proof of age can result in fines or imprisonment. It’s a sad fact that denial of sale from proof of age is the biggest single trigger factor for these dreadful incidents, overtaken now by enforcement of social distancing regulations.

We have created an impossible situation. Increasingly, governments have sought to implement public policy over the shop counter. Alcohol and tobacco have been joined by an ever-growing list of items that include fuel, knives, acid and even pets that all require proof of age. While the law compels staff to enforce these laws, there is no similar requirement or penalty for failing to comply.

‘Customer is king’?

There is a very simple principle that those we ask to uphold the law should receive the protection of the law. That is why not only police officers have the protection of a specific offence, but also others such a tax inspectors and border staff. My bill would apply this principle to retail workers. It would articulate clearly and effectively that these behaviours are unacceptable. It would also mean that those people committing these crimes against people simply doing their jobs and crucially upholding the law, would be dealt with more seriously by the courts.

In and of itself, this change in the law will not fix these issues. Hopefully it will improve the police response and act as a deterrent. But clearly there are more fundamental social issues at play. There is a sense that those wearing a name badge standing behind a counter are fair game. The “customer is king” mentality in retail means behaviours will be ignored that would not be in any other context.

In short, we have all been taking retail and retail workers for granted. My bill should act as the first step towards correcting this but it must prompt a wider rethink. We must end the assumption of ministers and legislators that public policy can be implemented for free at the press of a till button.

When additional restrictions and requirements are placed on retail to uphold the law, they must bring with them compliance requirements. It cannot be acceptable to refuse or disrupt when someone is legally compelled to enforce the law. Nor can we create legislation that leaves enforcement to those standing behind a till, by themselves often late at night. Governments of all stripes have been guilty of this and it cannot continue.

250,000 jobs could go

But it is also impossible to divorce these particular issues from the wider context of the retail industry. It’s not just retail workers that have been taken for granted, the retail industry as a whole is one that is rarely at the top of the political agenda.

Yet more than 10,000 jobs have been lost from retail in Scotland over the last five years. Across the whole of the UK, some fear as many as 250,000 jobs could go as a result of the pandemic. Any other industry facing this level of disruption and job losses would have ministerial task forces, support funds and action plans. Retail is the largest private sector employer and yet it gets no more than a shoulder shrug.

This is the wider challenge for retail. However it emerges from the pandemic, it needs to be taken seriously by government. It will not be easy but with my bill in place, perhaps those working in the sector will at last feel that they are not being taken for granted.

Daniel Johnson is the Scottish Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern

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