The Scottish Parliament will debate and vote on the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday. The bill is widely expected to pass and will then become law.
The Members’ Bill was initiated by Edinburgh Southern MSP, Daniel Johnson who had experience in the retail trade before being elected. The law will create a new statutory offence of assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker and provide further legal protections when the worker is carrying out their statutory duties such as age restricted sales.
All political parties as well as the Usdaw and GMB Unions, the Co-Operative Party and retail groups including the Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) and the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) have supported the bill on its passage through The Scottish Parliament.
Mr Johnson said: “I’m excited to debate my bill in the chamber this week and look forward to a positive response from MSPs across the political spectrum. It has been encouraging to hear so many supportive voices, recognising the important work of our retail workers.
“This pandemic has seen retail workers on the front line; performing critical roles, supplying the basic essentials to all of us and keeping us safe as we do so. With us now living under another national lockdown, it’s more important than ever that our essential retail workers are properly protected and supported.”
“I would like to thank USDAW, who along with the Co-Operative, the SGF, the SRC and retail groups across the country, have supported this from day one and I now look ahead to the Tuesday vote.”
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