Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell has joined forces with the retail union Usdaw to call for respect for shopworkers as part of the ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse directed at retail staff, ahead of Respect for Shopworker Week 2013 (11^th-15^th November).

The Usdaw campaign event took place in Parliament last week, the day after the Government blocked a Labour amendment to the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, which would have introduced a specific additional offence of assaulting a worker serving the public.

The amendment would have extended existing protections for police officers and Scottish emergency service workers to all workers serving the public, by making the assault of a worker serving the public an offence in its own right. At the moment, under sentencing guidelines, assaulting a worker is an aggravating factor, but there are concerns this is not being applied when decisions are made about prosecutions and sentencing.

Catherine said:

‘Too often retail employees can be confronted with totally unacceptable violence, threats and abuse and that’s why I’m giving my full backing to Usdaw’s campaign asking people to ‘keep their cool’ and respect shopworkers.

‘It’s also why I voted for Labour’s amendment to provide for stiffer sentences for offenders and I was very disappointed to see Tory and Lib Dem MPs combining to block it going forward. There is a real need to address the problem of shopworkers being assaulted and I am concerned that the perpetrators are getting away with relatively lenient sentences.’

John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary said:

‘We are grateful to Labour MPs like Catherine who support our campaign to keep our members safe at work.

‘Often, in the course of their duties, shopworkers are expected to enforce the law, whether that is preventing under-age purchases or detaining shoplifters until the police arrive, they can be put in real danger.

‘I have been shocked by the leniency of some of the sentencing for assault of workers. What we are seeking is a simplification and clarification of the process, by taking the assault of workers out of a list of aggravating factors and creating a separate and distinct offence. This will provide clarity to the public and ensure that the offence is properly considered by the courts.’