Calls for legal protection from abuse for shop staff

LABOUR leadership contender Cathy Jamieson today called for shop workers to be given the same legal protection as emergency workers.

Bar workers and other "frontline" workers dealing with the public should also be brought within the scope of the Emergency Workers Act, she said.

The move was backed by the shop workers' union USDAW, which claims retail staff are increasingly suffering violence and threats of violence at work.

The Emergency Workers Act was brought in by the last Holyrood administration in the hope of curbing attacks on police, firefighters and others.

It created the offence of assaulting, hindering or obstructing someone providing an emergency service, and was later extended to covers GPs, community nurses and community midwives.

Ms Jamieson said: "People who deal with the public provide a great service, and should be able to go about their work without fear of attack or intimidation."