Shop workers must be protected from violence and abuse – Daniel Johnson MSP

Shop workers are regularly attacked, both verbally and physically, and incidents are estimated to have doubled since the pandemic began, writes Daniel Johnson MSP.

The people who serve us in shops have a right to go about their work free of abuse (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Half a year into this pandemic there are things we are now used to, some we are not and there are parts of all our lives that will never be the same. I still have to stop myself from putting out a hand on the rare occasion I meet someone new in person. Everyone’s sense of personal space has changed and I wonder if standing close to other people in queues or waiting rooms will ever feel normal again.

But one thing I hope has changed for good is the value of those people providing lifeline services. While it may be expected that people applaud nurses and doctors, firefighters and police, we have come to understand the vital role of refuse collectors, childcare workers and bus drivers in keeping the essentials of day-to-day life working.

But I think it is retail workers where there has perhaps been the biggest realisation of just how important their role can be. We need shop workers to buy food, drink and other means of basic sustenance. Not only do they provide the basic requirements for survival, during this pandemic they have been providing a public protection function and helping maintain social distancing and heightened hygiene standards in stores where coming into contact with others is unavoidable.

What is sad and alarming, is that while most of us now recognise this vitally important role they play, some have chosen to respond to the direction and guidance provided with abuse, threats and violence. Usdaw, the shop workers union, estimates that such incidents have doubled during the pandemic.

The reality is that neither this public role nor the appalling behaviour from a small minority to it is new. There are a growing number of age-restricted items and services for which we require shop workers to regulate the sale. Challenge 25 has become the norm, but what most people don’t realise is that it is shop workers themselves that are liable if they fail to ask for proof of age. You can get a £5,000 fine or prison time if you sell someone without checking ID. Yet it is this same legal duty that also triggers the shocking response. According to Usdaw, the average shop worker is abused, threatened or assaulted 17 times every year.

The Scottish Grocers Federation report that half their members receive abuse when asking for ID on a daily basis. During the pandemic, requests to maintain social distance and other measures have been met with torrents of abuse and there are documented examples of workers being deliberately coughed and spat at.

When we ask people to uphold the law, they should have the specific protection of the law. Emergency workers, customs officers, border staff, tax inspectors all have such protection. This was true before the pandemic and why I introduced a members bill to the Scottish Parliament to recognise the important legal duty fulfilled by people working behind shop counters.

The importance of this measure has been underlined by the pandemic and the critical role people working in retail have performed. The pandemic should cause all of us to pause and reassess what is important. The reassessment and recognition in law for retail workers is timely and the least we owe them in these trying times.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director