Members will be aware that one of the issues we deal with daily is abusive customers.
As part of our campaign to protect our members on the front-line, we recently wrote all MPs asking them to extend the new legal offence of assaulting a retail worker to include bank and building society staff.
In that letter we said:
“You will be aware that the standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker in England and Wales is being introduced as part of the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill. However, staff who work in bank and building society branches are not being given the same protections that are being created for other front-line retail workers. That is a major oversight in the legislation and needs to be changed.
We are the largest independent trade union representing staff in TSB.
In a recent survey of our members working in branches, 78.57% said they had experienced abuse from customers in the last 12 months.
In terms of verbal abuse, which is usually a precursor to physical abuse, the results are just as bad.
Being shouted or screamed at: 92.86%
Being called names: 57.14%
Racial abuse: 16.07%
Sexual abuse/harassment: 7.14%
Being sworn at: 89.29%
Threatened with violence: 21.43%
All front-line staff deserve the protection of the law and that includes bank and building society branch staff. They have every right to feel safe at work. Many of your constituents are bank and building society workers and they deserve your support.”.
We also wrote to members of the Cabinet.
The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson, DBE MP, Minister of State for Policing and Crime Prevention, said in a letter TBU that:
“To protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores, and to send a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated, this Government has introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker.
This Government and the retail sector have long championed the new offence….
A tight definition of a ‘retail worker’ provides legal clarity and ensures there is less ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker and impacted during their job. The Government does not plan to include bank workers within the new offence.
We know the dedicated bank workers do, and the difficult situations in which they can find themselves, but there are no plans to include them as part of the standalone offence.”.
However, in her letter Dame Diana did say:
“We will use the parliamentary process to scrutinise the provisions in the Bill and will consider carefully amendments tabled as well as evidence put forward in support of such amendments.”.
The Union is working with several MPs to put together an amendment to Crime and Policing Bill to include bank and building society workers.
Members with any questions should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 716029 (Option 1).
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO THEIR COLLEAGUES SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN TSB.