Abuse and assaults against shopworkers rise during Covid-19 crisis

By Hugh Radojev2020-04-22T23:01:00

Instances of abuse, threats and even assaults on shopworkers have all risen since the coronavirus crisis began, new research has found.

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw says cases of abuse and violence against retail workers have collectively doubled since March 14, according to the findings of its coronavirus survey.

In the last 34 days, 62.2% of shopworkers had been verbally abused, 29% had been threatened and 4% had reported a physical assault by a member of the public, based on 4,928 responses.

The union said that extrapolated across the 3 million strong UK retail workforce, this amounted to over 3,500 assaults per day since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country.

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