COVER STORY
EXCLUSIVE - DANIEL JOHNSON INTERVIEW PROTECTION OF WORKERS BILL
HISTORY MADE AS SCOTTISH SHOP WORKERS BILL IS PASSED DANIEL JOHNSON MSP’S GAME-CHANGING PROTECTION OF WORKERS BILL WAS FORMALLY PASSED YESTERDAY AND WILL NOW
IVE S U L E XC R V I E W INTE Y B NY O T N A EY BEGL
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BECOME LAW LATER IN THE YEAR. THE WEEK IN RETAIL SECURED AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HIM.
istory was made yesterday – and it’s not a cliché we use lightly – as Daniel Johnson MSP’s Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Bill was voted through the Scottish Parliament at Stage 3, clearing the way for the Bill to become law in Scotland later this year. This represents a massively important moment for Johnson, the Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern, as it means the Bill will be submitted for Royal Assent in the coming weeks – required for it to become an Act of the Scottish Parliament. This will create a brand new statutory offence of assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker and will provide further legal protections when the worker is carrying out their statutory duties such as age-restricted sales. The Week In Retail was granted an exclusive interview with Johnson yesterday just a couple of hours before the vote was due to take place at Holyrood and Johnson would take his place as a true champion of the local retailing sector.
10 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 39 / WEDNESDAY 20TH JANUARY 2021
DANIEL, IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING, BUT YOU MUST BE VERY PLEASED? I have to say I am absolutely delighted to see my Bill pass all the legislative hurdles to become law and give retail workers the proper protection they need. For too long, violence and abuse were seen as part of the job for shopworkers but having worked with the Scottish Grocers’ Federation and other stakeholders across the country these past years, we have all challenged that assumption and provided workers with the protection of the law they deserve.
