“WE’RE now heading towards 130,000 deaths. Something’s gone badly wrong. A public inquiry is crucial for the victims, for those who have lost loved ones, for those who have long Covid.”

As general secretary of Usdaw, the country’s biggest retail union with more than 400,000 members, Paddy Lillis has had a lot to worry about over the past year.

Like the rest of us, he has watched in horror as key workers have struggled on the front line against a virus which has expertly exploited a decade of austerity to hit vulnerable people hardest.

Among the many millions of “essential” workers who have been out there day after day are those in retail. Hundreds got together to share their experiences at Usdaw’s first ever virtual annual conference on Sunday and Monday.

Tragically, between 200 and 250 shop staff have died with Covid-19 since March 2020, Lillis estimates.

But he is at pains to emphasise the role Usdaw’s reps have played in making sure that number was not even higher.

“The work that’s gone on between the unions and the employers has been excellent,” he stresses.

“From day one we have been involved, through our safety reps and our officers and with the Department of Business, the British Retailer Consortium and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS). There’s been a real collaboration around safety.

“There’s been a considerable cost to employers, but what price do you put on safety? I don’t think you can put a price on [it]. This virus is a killer.

“We all have a part to play, we all have to help each other to keep our communities safe. [And] we need to be vigilant. It isn’t going away any time soon.”

Disturbingly, the virus has not been the only threat retail workers have faced over the past 12 months.

Levels of abuse from a “small but significant minority” of the public has made workers feel unsafe, Lillis warns.

Usdaw’s 2020 survey of nearly 3,000 shop staff found that a shocking 88 per cent had been verbally abused, nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) had reported threats of physical violence and just under one in 10 (9 per cent) had been physically assaulted.

The problem is nothing new — in fact it has been worsening over the last 20 years. Lillis describes how retail has become an “easy target” for criminal elements, especially the very exposed convenience sector where only a handful of workers find themselves working late at night, often without any security present. ACS estimated there were more than 50,000 violent incidents in stores across the country in 2019.

But staff having to police pandemic rules surrounding social distancing and mask wearing has added another layer of risk to the job, leading to more dangerous flashpoints.

The figures are shocking enough, but the fact many retail workers do not seem keen to report abuse was particularly concerning according to Lillis.

“[Some] just see it as part of the job. It’s never going to be part of the job. Anyone going to work shouldn’t expect to be abused in any walk of life. Every incidence of abuse should be reported and recorded.”

Ahead of next month’s police and crime commissioners’ elections, Lillis has been pushing local law enforcers to back calls for new legislation making it a specific offence to assault a retail worker.

The drive comes after a groundbreaking Act was passed in January to protect Scottish shop staff from assault. The Protection of Workers Bill, brought by Labour MSP Daniel Johnson, sent a clear message that enough was enough. But Lillis warned that ministers in Westminster appear less keen to act.

“One of my first duties [as general secretary in 2018] was to meet with the Home Office. We brought a team together – the Police Federation, the British Retail Consortium, the Co-op, the Co-op Party and numerous other organisations. We met with Home Office minister Victoria Atkins and it was clear she was quite dismissive of us. She kicked it into the long grass.”

The government put out a “call for evidence” before deciding what to do about the issue, with the pandemic delaying any progress until very recently. Earlier this month, MPs in the Commons home affairs committee heard Usdaw’s head of research and economics Joanne Cairns demand more statutory protection for retail workers.

Many business leaders have also written to PM Boris Johnson, calling for action.

“When you get the employers and the unions saying to the government the same thing, it really is time for Johnson and his cabinet to wake up and smell the coffee,” Lillis stressed.

In the meantime, he said it is incumbent upon all of us to remember that retail workers are “community servants” that demand our respect.

“If there’s an incident in a store, where somebody’s been abused, they come back to work the next day. It must be always on [their] mind – the next customer that comes through that door is going to abuse me. The anxiety and the mental health issues that that creates is a burden on society and the taxpayer.

“We’ve all got a duty of care. There are no easy solutions [what with] society the way it is. We need to get back to a time when neighbour looked after neighbour.”

A noble aspiration to reflect on this Workers’ Memorial Day.