Sad, but true: violence in the workplace is now part of daily life for many trade employees in Austria. Employees are discussed by customers and sexually harassed. There are also fights between shopping at the cashier.
It is an extremely sobering record for the Alpine Republic. Almost every second is offended, threatened or sexually hindered at work – 8.4 percent of the respondents alone last year, explains the GPA Union and refers to a current survey, among other things than 1500 trade union members. “The biggest problem is customers,” says the chairman of the GPA Union, Barbara Teiber.
“Unfortunately, our city council team had to discover in recent years that the tone of our colleagues has become a lot, much rougher and the willingness to use violence has increased,” said Billa councilor Sabine Grossensteiner at a press conference in Vienna.
To attack
Intimidation (57.8 percent), intimidation (58.6 percent) and threats (37.6 percent) were particularly often mentioned in non -representative research. According to the GPA, sexist attacks are also widespread: 40 percent of female employees report suggestive or discriminatory jokes, every fifth of verbal sexual harassment, about four percent of physical attacks. More than half of the respondents (53.2 percent) see an increase in such incidents in the past five years.
Only women work in many branches, Grossensteiner said. “There are now actions where there are simply different men in small groups in a branch and then the employees and colleagues really look provocatively, talk about them, partly in a different language, also along and so along the Popsch. There are also raids, in which weapons are increasingly used. The trapped thieves would also behave more and more aggressively.
Trade union is an appeal to employers
Employees would spit customers and there are also fights between the cashier customers, Teiber reported. She appealed to the employers to take the subject seriously and to be on the side of their employees and not “customers who are really impossible” and then complained to business management and then reward vouchers.
Structural measures are urgently necessary, the GPA boss appeals. The trade union calls for, among other things, a right to psychological support and supervision, by violent protection officers in companies with 20 people and a mandatory minimum line -up at high customer frequency. The spatial design of the branches must also be checked from the aspect of violence prevention. Dense corridors or treasure chest that are too small would bring customers into stressful situations.
Source: Krone
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