Yesterday the House of Lords considered an amendment to the antisocial behaviour, crime and policing bill that will introduce a specific additional punishment for anyone who assaults a worker who is serving the public. The amendment will be tabled by George Foulkes and is a key political aim of Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear campaign.
Last month thousands of Usdaw activists across the UK were campaigning in local supermarkets, convenience stores and on high streets asking the shopping public to ‘keep their cool and respect shopworkers’. It was a hugely successful week and we were grateful for the support we received from Labour politicians, shoppers, retail managers and the police. Pictures of the events can be seen on Flickr here.
We know that the vast majority of people do not abuse shopworkers, but there are still far too many incidents. Usdaw’s survey shows that every minute of every day another shopworker is verbally abused, threatened or physically attacked and that last year there were around 120,000 assaults on retail staff.
Those everyday experiences of our members strike fear into their hearts and fear is a terrible thing. It blights lives and contaminates everyday experiences with physical and mental stress. I know from my conversations with shopworkers that once they have experienced an incident, whether the attack was towards them or a colleague, they always have fear in the back of their mind that it will happen again. No one should have to go to work dreading what the day might bring.
Many of us take a safe working environment for granted. However, there are millions of workers for whom safety cannot be guaranteed. Many staff who come in contact with the public can be vulnerable to abuse and even violence like the care worker dealing with patients with dementia and families under duress; the shop staff trying to help stressed and angry customers; and the bus drivers ferrying passengers who have had a drink-fuelled night out.
Responsible companies and trade unions are working together trying to reduce the potential for violence against their staff, but incidents are still too high, which is why we are seeking a change in the law to provide additional protection for workers and a substantial deterrent to would-be attackers.
We want legislators to do as much as possible to protect those who work on the frontline. In Scotland we have seen encouraging results from the previous Labour government’s creation of a specific offence of assaulting emergency workers, with over 1,000 prosecutions to date under the Emergency Workers Act. All workers who deal with the public should be offered a similar level of protection, and that is why we are so keen for peers to support this amendment in the House of Lords.
Our members are on the frontline of policing the laws passed in parliament and we are asking parliament to provide our members with the appropriate protections. Shopworkers can often find themselves detaining shop thieves, taking on a police-like role, or ensuring that alcohol and other age-restricted products are not sold to young people.
The amendment, to provide stiffer penalties for those who assault workers, received cross-party support in the Lords, with all peers recognising the important role our members play in reducing antisocial behaviour and helping to make our communities safer. However, the government, whilst offering warm words and sympathy, is opposed to the amendment. It does not recognise that there is a need to provide workers serving the public greater protections than anyone else and they believe that there are sufficient penalties already available to the courts. The minister offered one glimmer of hope by promising to bring the debate to the attention of the Crown Prosecution Service and the police.
George Foulkes withdrew the amendment, but reserved the right to retable it at third reading.
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John Hannett is general secretary of Usdaw, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers