Retail crime topped the agenda at last week’s Usdaw conference as the union unveiled its latest tactics to stamp it out. Maja Pawinska reports

The agenda for retail union Usdaw’s conference in Blackpool last week makes interesting reading for anyone who still sees the trade union movement as only concerned with pay, hours and working conditions. Topics as broad as crime prevention, ID cards, funding for charities and encouraging supermarket shoppers to buy fair trade products were the subject of heated debate on the floor, illustrating the extent to which Usdaw has embraced a wider social remit.

The union also announced this year’s activities for its high-profile Freedom From Fear campaign, which aims to raise awareness of threats and abuse against supermarket staff and gain greater respect for people working in the retail industry (‘Retail staff urged to be special constables’, The Grocer, May 1, p19).

At the conference home secretary David Blunkett paid tribute to the campaign and urged retailers to back the special constable schemes that have been piloted in London and Norfolk.

General secretary elect John Hannett admits the union has been surprised by the interest in the campaign since its launch in 2002: “Workers and retailers have really taken the campaign on and politicians recognise retail crime is a real issue.”

The official figure often quoted is a rather vague one million recorded incidents of physical assaults, threats of violence or verbal abuse since 1995. However, it is thought the true figure, including unreported incidents, is far higher.

Usdaw is attempting to gain a clearer picture of the number and level of assaults on its members working for supermarkets and other retailers. It is carrying out what is thought to be the largest survey into violence and abuse suffered by shopworkers in the UK during a week in May, as part of the Freedom From Fear campaign.

Hannett acknowledges that to tackle retail crime effectively, a balance will need to be struck between the needs of employers, workers and customers. “The challenge for employers is the extent to which they are prepared to support staff who are victims of repeat offenders, at the expense of the image that every customer, no matter what they do, is welcome in the store,” he explains.

“Employers who support their staff receive an awful lot of goodwill back. The Co-op put up a statement in its stores about acceptable behaviour by customers last year and staff were delighted.”

The Freedom From Fear campaign has made a good start - Tesco, Safeway, Sainsbury, Iceland, Morrisons, Somerfield and the Co-op have already signed the Charter of Respect for shopworkers - but there is still plenty of work to do. The next step is for the union and the supermarkets to examine training and safety policies and how employees should deal with an abusive or violent customer.

“There also needs to be more awareness that good quality service goes hand in hand with equal respect between customers and workers,” adds Hannett. “At the moment the customer is still always right.”

Fighting retail crime is one of the top priorities for Hannett, who becomes general secretary when Sir Bill Connor retires on May 21. Sir Bill has been in the post for seven years and has worked at the union full time for 33 years.

Since he took on the top job, membership has increased by 40,000, in sharp contrast to the rest of the trade union movement. Usdaw is now the UK’s fifth biggest union, with more than 330,000 members, mainly in the retail sector.

Sir Bill attests to the massive changes that the organisation and the industry in which its members work have undergone during that time: Sunday trading, round-the-clock opening hours, the minimum wage and the changing shape of the supermarket sector have all had an impact.

“I am amazed that the supermarkets keep expanding,” he says. “It’s like a kaleidoscope where the entire configuration of the sector keeps changing. My view is that the supermarkets are great now: they are a good shopping environment and offer incredible bargains. Working conditions aren’t perfect, but they have improved.”

As Hannett prepares to pick up the baton, he says much of his job will be to nurture the close relationships Usdaw has already forged with the supermarkets.

“As a union we have pioneered that partnership approach - we’ve probably got the most radical partnership agreement in the country with Tesco. We are not anti-employer. All the things we want to pursue in the future, like a greater work-life balance, training and pensions, can only be worked out in that kind of relationship. We don’t want soundbites, we want real dialogue.”

Achieving a greater emphasis on work-life balance will also benefit the supermarkets, Hannett believes: “Retail is often seen as a stop gap, with people passing through. A real challenge for employers is to reduce staff turnover; we need to help employers retain quality staff. Supermarkets have also had problems getting women into senior positions. Putting work-life balance on the agenda will help them to deal with that.”

Sir Bill would also like union members to become more involved in managerial discussions at the supermarkets.

“In enlightened companies like Tesco, that is beginning to happen,” he says. “We want to make workers more engaged with their employers and to improve the performance of the supermarkets. Our success is inextricably entwined with their success.”

With its Lifelong Learning campaign for supermarket staff, Usdaw has already helped 6,000 people into further education with government funding. “Lifelong Learning makes people better in the workplace, more receptive to change and more likely to go for promotion, so there are real results for the company as well,” says Sir Bill.

“For years the unions were confined to pay and rations, but we are changing our emphasis from quantitative to qualitative. The pay issue is always there, but retail workers say a decent relationship with their employer is the most important. I’m firmly for the partnership model - it gives us more credibility than the rhetoric and moaning of the past did.”