SURVEY SHOWS NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF BAR AND RETAIL WORKERS HAVE EXPERIENCED VERBAL ABUSE IN THEIR WORKPLACES
Thursday 9 October 2025Mandate Trade Union urges Minister for Retail, Alan Dillon, and Government to support Protection of Retail Workers Bill
A survey of Mandate Trade Union’s members in the bar and retail trades shows that nearly two-thirds of them have suffered verbal abuse in the course of their work. The results of the survey are being presented today by the union to the Minister for Retail, Alan Dillon, along with a request that the Government support the Protection of Retail Workers’ Bill.
Jim Fuery, Mandate’s Assistant General Secretary, set out the outcome of the union’s survey which was conducted over the last two weeks:
· Nearly two-thirds of bar and retail workers (63.42%) have experienced verbal abuse in their workplace;
· Over a quarter have received threats to their physical safety (28.2%) while almost an eighth (11.38%) have experienced assault in their role as bar and retail workers.
Mr Fuery said that the situation for Irish bar and retail workers is very similar to that of their counterparts in Scotland, except their Government decided to act to provide stronger legal protection for such workers and Mandate will be urging Minister for Retail, Alan Dillon and his Government to do likewise.
“In 2021, the Scottish Government recognised that bar and retail workers needed additional legal safeguards to protect them from the appalling abuse that so many face in their workplaces. Recent Police Scotland management information shows that in the period since the law was enacted, the number of prosecutions of threatening and abusive behaviour has increased by 37% and there has been a 36% increase in the prosecution of common assault offences.
“This data proves that the creation of specific offences in relation to bar and retail workers has helped to secure stronger criminal justice outcomes compared to the situation before the Protection of Workers (Scotland) Act came into effect. This is why we are urging Minister Alan Dillon and his Government to support Senator Mary Fitzpatrick’s Protection of Retail Workers Bill 2025,” Jim Fuery concluded.
