Usdaw is supporting opposition attempts to amend the government’s Criminal Justice Bill to better protect shopworkers from violence and abuse.
It comes as new research by the retail trade union found that 18% of shopworkers suffered a violent attack last year, up from 8% in 2022.
Over the last 12 months, 70% experienced verbal abuse and almost half (46%) were threatened by a customer.
Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis described the figures as “shocking,” adding “our members have reported that they are often faced with hardened career criminals and we know that retail workers are much more likely to be abused by those who are stealing to sell goods on.”
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Usdaw’s research also found that theft from shops and armed robbery were triggers for 61% of incidents of threats and violence towards shopworkers.
Lillis explained: “The UK government has repeatedly failed to act in the face of an epidemic of retail crime, rising theft from shops and assaults against retail workers.
“It is disappointing that they have no measures in their legislative programme to tackle this issue.”
He said that many retailers support the amendment of the Criminal Justice Bill, with a protection of shopworkers law already existing in Scotland which has so far secured over 500 convictions.
Lillis added that Usdaw would also like to see “more neighbourhood police with patrols in town centres, respect orders to ban repeat offenders and an end to the £200 threshold for investigating and prosecuting shop theft.
“Most of all, we ask the public to support our campaign by respecting shopworkers.”
Earlier this month, data released by the Association of Convenience Stores found that shoplifting hit a record high of 5.6m incidents in 2023, almost fivefold as many as the retail crime record of 1.1m incidents in 2022.
