Responding to the speech, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Today Yvette Cooper has given us a pledge that the next Labour Government will deliver on the aims of Usdaw’s long-running ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers.
 
“Our members can be assured that, as the next Home Secretary, Yvette will lead from the front and deliver: 13,000 more neighbourhood police with guaranteed patrols in town centres; Respect Orders to ban repeat offenders from town centres; a standalone offence for assaulting a public service worker and will end the £200 threshold for investigating and prosecuting shop theft.
 
“In the face of an epidemic of theft from shops, these policies will make a real difference to the lives of our members working on the frontline of retail. Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. Usdaw’s annual survey found that a third of incidents of violence threats and abuse against shopworkers were triggered by theft.
 
“By contrast, the Tories repeatedly opposed a protection of workers law that would have provided a standalone offence for abusing or assaulting a shopworker. They boast about recruiting extra police officers, but it barely covers the numbers cut under their failed austerity programme.
 
“We need a Government to take the issue of retail crime seriously, not by suggesting citizens' arrests or ignoring the problem, but by taking positive steps and actions which have broad consensus across the industry. Only Labour has the policies to tackle the crime that blights retail and our communities.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
 
BRC letter to the Home Secretary: https://brc.org.uk/media/683469/letter-to-the-homesecretary-retail-crime-september-2023.pdf
 
Final results of the Usdaw 2022 survey, based on 7,752 responses, show that (last year’s results in brackets): 74.26% (89%) were verbally abused, 49.25% (63%) were threatened. 7.92% (12%) had been assaulted. 40.88% said violence, threats and abuse caused them anxiety at work and 29.97% are now considering changing job. Top triggers for abuse: 34% shoplifting and armed robbery, along with 16% age-restricted sales. The full report can be found at: www.usdaw.org.uk/FFFReport2022
 
Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/6
 
Assaults on Retail Workers (Offences) Bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2725
 
Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear Campaign seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers by engaging the public, shopworkers and the Government www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Freedom-From-Fear
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion