Christmas shoppers 'verbally abusing retail workers', says union
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 01:07 PM
Mandate Trade Union say that they have received several complaints from members working in the retail trade regarding customers verbally abusing them during this Christmas period.
The union is now calling on all Christmas shoppers to please be mindful of the pressures retail workers are under and to think twice before verbally abusing staff.
Mandate’s national coordinator of campaigns, Brian Forbes said: “The Christmas period is a stressful time for all concerned, particularly in the current economic and social environment. Most families are trying to survive on lower incomes while trying to provide their loved ones with Christmas presents, and this can prove difficult at times.
“However, it is important that consumers recognise that retail workers are experiencing their own pressures too and consumers should continue to afford them the dignity and respect they deserve while they are in their place of work.”
Mr Forbes stated that almost all incidents of abuse towards shop workers are based around issues which are completely outside of their control.
“According to the results of a survey Mandate conducted, nine times out of 10, the problem the customer has is completely outside the control of the employee. Issues such as clothing sizes, refund policies and a lack of stock are high on the agenda of customer complaints, yet retail workers have very little control over these matters.
“We would hasten to add that it is often easier to resolve these issues when the customer remains calm.
“As one of our members put it, ‘abuse is not part of the job but it only takes one customer from a thousand to have an adverse effect on a retail workers whole week’.”
Mandate launched the Respect Retail Workers campaign last year which had the perceived effect of reducing the number of incidence of abuse towards retail workers, particularly in the run up to Christmas.
The campaign was based on a survey Mandate produced which revealed that 10% of retail workers experienced verbal abuse every day, 30% of retail workers experienced verbal abuse every week, 41% of retail workers experienced verbal abuse every month, and almost 10% of shop workers were assaulted by a customer during the course of their employment.
Mandate represents more than 45,000 workers in the retail sector.
