A newly formed council which has been set up to address workplace safety issues among retail sector employees in Australia has met for the first time this week in Melbourne.
The Retail Employee Safety Council (RESC) which was established last year is a tri-partite alliance between unions, employers and the government.
It includes representatives from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).
With the increase in the frequency and severity of incidents impacting front-line workers, members of the RESC agreed to focus their initial efforts on customer aggression, assaults against retail workers and sexual harassment.
“Customer abuse and aggression is an epidemic that the industry has been wrestling with for years. Having the SDA and the retailers in the room will allow for a constructive discussion. Our latest survey shows that 87 per cent of workers experience abuse from customers, and that number has not materially changed since 2016. There must be change and the RESC provides a solid platform for the future,” said SDA National Secretary Gerard Dwyer.
The council reviewed findings of an Australian Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) Report that highlighted the prevalence of sexual harassment in retail workplaces and reviewed key insights from the recent Retail Crime Symposium.
The RESC will meet at least four times a year, with three representatives each from the SDA and ARA, and government stakeholders to be invited to future meetings.
“While the vast majority of customers do the right thing, we know that abusive behaviour, customer aggression and sexual harassment have all intensified in recent years. But we also know that these challenges can’t be solved in isolation by employers, so we look forward to working with the SDA to address these issues,” said ARA CEO Paul Zahra.
Marie Boland, who was appointed as the CEO of Safe Work Australia last year, now additionally serves as the independent chair of the RESC too.
