The National Retail Association (NRA) has joined the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) in supporting the SDA’s campaign to end the customer abuse epidemic in Australia.

More than 85 per cent of retail and fast food workers reported experiencing abuse from customers, according to a survey of 6000 workers conducted by the union in 2017.

The union has been working over the past two years to raise awareness of this issue, implement practical solutions to protect workers and encourage customers to stop abusing them.

It launched its national “No One Deserves a Serve” campaign ahead of Christmas 2017 and held its first roundtable on the topic in March 2018.

The campaign has now gained support from retail’s peak industry bodies. The ARA announced its support for the SDA’s campaign at the end of last year.

The SDA held its second national industry roundtable on customer abuse and violence on Tuesday, with the NRA, ARA, major employers, NGOs and government organisations in attendance.

A panel of retail and fast food workers was also given the opportunity to speak about their experiences at the roundtable.

NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said the the verbal or physical abuse of retail or fast food workers was “simply unacceptable”.

“People working in retail are just doing their job and shouldn’t be abused for something that is out of their control,” she said.

“The NRA are proud to support the SDA’s ‘No One Deserves to be Served’ campaign and stand with them when they ask all employees and stakeholders to commit to a zero-tolerance approach to customer abuse and violence.”