A campaign aimed to combat abuse and violence against retail workers has been launched by a coalition of a union and retailer groups.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), the National Retail Association (NRA), and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) have jointly launched the ‘No One Deserves a Serve’ campaign which will be rolled out from this week ahead of the Christmas. It will feature on more than 3100 digital screens in more than 150 shopping centres, which are home to 28,000 retailers. 

The key message of the campaign is that customers should treat retail staff and other customers with courtesy and respect, and that aggression, violence, and anti-social behaviours will not be tolerated.

“Retail workers are under more stress and pressure during the Christmas season – we’re asking all shoppers not to take out their festive frustrations on the workers who are there to help make your shopping experience a pleasant one,” said Gerard Dwyer, national secretary at the SDA.

“I am proud our industry has come together with a fresh commitment to address abuse and violence against workers and rising retail crime,” said Angus Nardi, CEO at the SCCA.

The partnership seeks to ensure that retail and fast-food workers report incidents of abuse, violence, and retail crime to police and improve information-sharing among retailers, shopping centres and the government to boost public safety.

It also seeks to ensure that technology can be used appropriately to deter offenders and assist law enforcement.

Moreover, the SDA, NRA, and the SCCA are calling on the government to review policies on potential and recidivist offenders, and aggravated assault.

“We as an industry are jointly calling for policy reforms to clearly demonstrate that any abuse towards retail employees will not be tolerated,” said Lindsay Carroll, deputy CEO at the NRA.