SHOPWORKERS suffer a catalogue of violence, threats and abuse on a regular basis, union Usdaw revealed yesterday as it launched its annual Respect for Shopworkers campaign week.

Usdaw said the last year saw a “shocking” increase in incidents with a retail staff member being verbally or physically abused every minute.

Reports from staff included a worker being threatened by a shoplifter who told them to “get out of the way or get stabbed with a syringe.”