Daniel Johnson’s bill seeks to reduce violence and verbal abuse of workers in the retail sector, it seeks to increase awareness of the issues and tensions generated in retail and the sale of age-restricted goods and services and the violence and verbal abuse that occurs as a result and finally it seeks to increase reporting of violence or verbal abuse against staff and businesses.

We must value the members of staff who work in retail. Within the co-operative sector we must make sure that we offer as much protection as is possible to our fellow co-operators who work for our societies and who often end up administering government policies while government ministers sleep soundly in their beds. When the government is keen to deal with issues like underage drinking it is staff in convenience stores, often co-operatives, who are in the front line of challenging people about their age.

The Proposed Bill aims to offer more protection to staff and make sure that those who abuse shop staff face legal penalties.

As Daniel Johnson MSP, who is promoting the Bill, says,

“Everybody should enjoy safety and security at work. That is important whether you work in an office, a pub or on the shop floor. For too many people abuse and violence has become’ just part of the job. This bill would offer much needed protection for thousands of Scottish workers.”

This is why the Scottish Co-operative Party is happy to join our friends at Scotmid Co-operative in supporting this important proposal for legislation.

The consultation is open until 20th April 2018 and you can find the consultation document here.