Shop staff face rising aggro

Supermarkets are looking into extra safety measures as aggressive and threatening behaviour towards frontline staff continues to escalate.

Shoplifters armed with knives and screwdrivers and people yelling racial and sexist abuse are just some examples of aggressive behaviour that supermarket workers face on a daily basis, retailers said.

It has increased more than ever over the past year, according to Countdown, and it’s upsetting.

“We’ve seen our people [being] subjected to more aggression, conflict and abuse than we’ve ever experienced in our business,” a Countdown spokeswoman said.

“Every day our team hears and experiences racism, sexism, threats and the like. Our people show up to look after our customers and serve communities, and the abuse and aggression they face is upsetting.”

The comments come after four people – including two staff members – were seriously injured in a stabbing attack at Countdown on Dunedin’s Cumberland St on Monday afternoon. Three remain in a stable but serious condition while another remained in a moderate condition in hospital yesterday. The alleged attacker was charged with four counts of attempted murder yesterday and remanded in custody.

Foodstuffs, which operates Pak’n Save and New World, said its staff were “horrified” to hear about the stabbing. “No-one should be exposed to violence or hurt at work,” the company’s head of corporate affairs, Antoinette Laird, said. “It’s unacceptable, and we have extended our support to our industry colleagues.”

Laird said Foodstuffs had also seen a rise in aggressive situations in its stores. Efforts to keep staff safe included exploring technology such as CCTV and facial recognition.

First Union said it had noticed aggression towards retail staff escalating since last year’s Covid-19 lockdown and an “extremely urgent” discussion was needed. Union representative Tali Williams said the problem was with the entire retail sector – but more incidents in supermarkets were reported.

The most common instances of theft were people taking meat and putting it under their tops and

jerseys. When staff members approached people in this situation they were often met with aggression, ‘‘which is incredibly intimidating’’, Williams said.

Senior management were having meetings to talk about solutions, and this would include getting input from staff workers. Safer staffing levels would have to be addressed, she said.

Retail NZ said many workers faced shoplifters armed with knives or screwdrivers. The industry representative group’s chief executive, Greg Harford, agreed that aggression had escalated in the past year.

‘‘There is a pattern of violent and antisocial behaviour we are seeing nationwide. Retailers are hugely concerned about this – it’s a massive issue throughout the country. Retailers are receiving aggression almost every day, and people are brazenly stealing.’’

Phil Thomson, a co-founder and co-CEO of Auror, an online platform used by retailers to identify and share information about thefts in real time, said aggression and threatening behaviour had escalated since the pandemic began.

Nationally shoplifters pocketed ‘‘$2 million dollars worth of products’’ a day.