Union ‘frustrated’ as Co-op workers threatened with knives

Symbol Groups

The government is failing to stamp out retail violence and has only offered “warm words” to shop staff, a trade union has said.

It comes as two Co-op workers were threatened by knife-wielding thieves in Leyland, Lancashire.

The employees were pushed against the shop front by three men in balaclavas, who forced them to hand over a “substantial amount” of cash and cigarettes.

According to a survey released this week by shop workers’ union Usdaw, 11 per cent of retail staff have been assaulted in the last year.

READ MORE: Central England Co-op backs Usdaw retail violence campaign

Almost two-thirds were threatened, while around nine in 10 faced verbal abuse.

General secretary Paddy Lillis was “disappointed and frustrated” that ministers had not made attacking store workers a specific offence.

This would “encourage prosecutions and provide [a] deterrent,” he continued.

With the policing bill being debated in the House of Lords today, he urged peers to vote for two amendments to “protect” staff.

Assaulting shop workers is already a statutory offence in Scotland, where it was passed by over 90 per cent of MSPs.

Calls for similar UK-wide legislation have been backed by all major supermarkets.

“When retail employers, leading retail bodies, the Home Affairs Select Committee and the shopworkers’ trade union jointly call for legislation, it is time for the government to listen,” Lillis argued.

In the past, ministers have stood firm against the demands, insisting that this is already covered by the law.

However, Work and Pensions minister Thérèse Coffey appeared to hint yesterday that the government change its position.

“We want to strengthen [employment law] even further, including by introducing explicit protections for employees from harassment by third parties, for example customers,” she wrote in The House.

“Nobody should be the target of violence and harassment simply for doing their job.”

Click here to sign up to Grocery Gazette’s free daily email newsletter

Symbol Groups

RELATED POSTS

1 Comment. Leave new

  • Changing or enforcing the law won’t do anything to stop the crime and there are already laws in place to deal with this.

    Nobody can stop knife wielding balaclava thugs doing their evil deeds. All the staff can do is give the thugs the goods and let them go. The only thing the Government could do would be to have the police actively patrolling the streets, but it won’t happen as this is no longer the primary function of the police and there is no will for either Labour or Tories to change how they operate and prevent crime when they see it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Menu

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Sign up to our daily newsletter to get all the latest grocery news and insights direct to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.