Shop workers 'attacked each day'

The union hopes the day will become a national event

The growing incidents of violence against shop workers should be the focus of an awareness day says a leading union.

The shop workers union, Usdaw, is calling for the first "national respect day".

It wants the day to highlight and help combat the physical and verbal abuse faced by some its members.

At least one shop worker is attacked every hour of each working day and verbal abuse is routine, according to the union, whose national conference begins on Sunday.

Nearly half of shop workers have taken time off because of violence, according to a survey carried out by the Usdaw and published in December.

'Faceless individuals'

The findings suggest verbal abuse is a daily event in more than a third of stores, most commonly when young people are refused alcohol.

The day planned for 17 September will remind people shop workers are not "faceless individuals" but are instead parents, friends, wives and husbands.

The union's deputy general secretary John John Hannett is convinced the day will become a national event.

At least eight major employers have signed up to the union's new charter which aims to protect shop workers.