Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Shop, Distributive and ­Allied Employees Association’s Shlok Sharma hopes proposed changes to trespass laws will stop retail workers from being abused

Transcript

The Shop, Distributive and ­Allied Employees Association’s Shlok Sharma hopes proposed changes to trespass laws will stop retail workers from being abused · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We do know, or you might recall, that the Northern
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Territory government's moving ahead with proposed changes to trespass laws
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: which would see tougher penalties introduced and greater power given
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to police to enforce band notices. It is a move
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: that the Union for Businesses and Shop Employees has been
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: pushing for for quite some time. Now. Joining me in
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the studio to talk a little bit more about this
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is the Shop Distributed and Allied Employees Association NT Director
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Schlock Shama. Good morning to your Shlock.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show. Now, before I
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: get to the trespass changes, I do want to ask
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you over the weekend, we've obviously heard from Casarina Square
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that they're going to be banning school students from today
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: right up until close a business tomorrow afternoon as a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: result of well up to one hundred kids basically running
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a mark in the shopping center. Schlock, what are your
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: members telling you?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Look, I think a majority of our members will deplorge
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Casarina Square for the action they've taken. There has been
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: a noticeable increase and troublemakers wandering through the shopping center,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: anything from foul language being held to our members to
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: you know, fights in stores, and I mean the impact
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: that that has on our members is immeasurable. I mean,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: nobody wants to go to work and witness some of
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the stuff that our members are witnessing. So look, we
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: do applaud Casine Square for the steps that they're taking
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: to better protect our workers in the center.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really hope it makes a difference, because it
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: must be like, it must be tough for some of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: those workers then going to work. You know, we know
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that there's lots of young people that work in retail
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: as well. It can be their part time job or
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: it can be a full time job obviously each and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: every day, but having to deal with that can be
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: quite frightening.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Look, it's incredibly confronting for our members. Look, they've had
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a tough three years from you know, panic buying to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: lockdowns to the ever present danger of COVID running through supermarkets,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and to have this on top of that, it's just
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: nuts saying I feel for the people working in retail,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: especially in Cashirina Square, just because they are having to
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: see stuff nobody should have a witness at work.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: How frequently would you say that members are sort of
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: coming to you guys and saying that they've been abused
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: or that something has happened, like, is it pretty regular?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Look, it is quite regular. I mean every time one
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: of our organizers does a visit to one of our
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: major sites, they will come back with a new story
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: of you know, a member that was being racially abused,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: spat on, had something thrown with them, and otherwise is
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: feeling sorry and otherwise feeling a little bit unsafe at work.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So it is a fairly frugent occurrence that we do
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: get feedback from a members saying that what's happening in
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: store isn't great.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Now. One of the things that the Northern Territory Government
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: is moving ahead with, of course, is these proposed changes
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to trespass laws, hoping you know that those tougher penalties
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: introduced will mean that you know that it might make
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: some change in this space if passed. How would these
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: changes work in a practical sense from your perspective?
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Look, firstly, look, we welcome the changes that announced by
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Government. It's great to see that they
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: have prioritized the safety of our members by bringing them forward.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: And the first sitting week of Parliament. Look, I mean
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: the issue with the Trespassed Act was was that it
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: was previously an impractical act, like store owners and police
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: didn't really have confidence in it. People didn't know, you know,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: how to properly serve a trespass notice on somebody, and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the effect of that was was that it wasn't being
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: utilized at all. What the anti government is doing as
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: we understand it, and we do have a formal briefing
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: on this later in the week. They are clearing the
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: ambiguity up on the act. They're clearing up you know,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: who can serve a notice, you know, can security serve
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and notice. And more importantly, we're hoping that it will
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: give you police the confidence to actually utilize it a
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: bit more and take enforcement action. We know that police
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: can't be everywhere, we know they're strutch pretty thin thin
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: right now, but we're hopeful that it will mean that,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: you know, those people who do go into supermarkets and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: regularly abuse individuals will can now be removed. And more importantly,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: when they are going into a retail outlet for the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: purpose of abusing somebody, that they can you know that
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: more action can be taken against that. That can be
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: you know, in some cases stop before they go in.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Well, and that was one of the things as well
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: that I was wondering, is is thee for sort of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: employees to be able to issue a trespass notice as well?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Or how's it going to work? And I guess that's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: what you're going to be waiting to be briefed on.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, as we understand it, with the changes, it
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: will broaden the scope of who can actually issue a
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: trespass notice obviously. You know in a supermarket setting, there's
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: always confusion around you know, if the store manager or
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: if you know, the officer in charges and around who
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: can actually do it. And as we understand it, the
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Act will clear up some of that confusion, so it
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: will be easier for businesses to take matters into their
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: own hands and issue those notices on those people that
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: come into cause trouble in store schlock.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Are these fines going to be a big enough deturrent?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I mean there's sort of been that argument as well,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that you know, you can issue somebody a fine, but
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: are they actually going to pay it? All that kind
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: of thing.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Look, we're keeny to see how the Act obviously goes.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: This is the biggest change to the act pretty much
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: since its inception. Look, I will never un stand people
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: who go into the store with the with the purpose
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: of abusing a retail worker. So look, well we'll have
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: to wait and see whether or not the fines are
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: big enough to turrent, but we certainly think that, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the new finds and measures are a step in the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: right direction, a shock.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Really, what have your members been saying to you. I mean,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: obviously we've spoken about Casuarina, But what have they been
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: saying to you over the last few months or in
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: recent times. Do they feel us though some of that
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: anti social behavior and some of what they're dealing with
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: is getting worse or what do they think?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Look, the feedback up and down the highway from obviously Alice, Catherine, Nolan, Boyan,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: even Darwin has been that year of things. They have
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: seen an uptick in recent months, especially in those incidents
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: where you know they have been you know, physically assaulted
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and verbally abused. It's terrible to see. I mean, like
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I said, these are the workers that you know had
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: to carry us during COVID. These are these are the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: workers that didn't have the opportunity to work from home.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: They had to go in every day and risk COVID
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: spreading throughout their workplace, and it's just it's disgraceful some
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: of some of the behavior winessing inside of our supermarkets.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not good. It's not good at all. And
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I do feel for those employees in Alice Springs as well,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: how they tracking along over the last week or so.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Look, it has been tough for them. We do have
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: organizers there right now who are chatting to the workers
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: down there, and I'll obviously be touching base on our
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: organizers to see how they go. But you know, the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: members that we have, they love the work they do.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: They love you know, they love serving the community and
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: making sure that you know, people have food on their tables,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: and you know, we're able to get the essential goods
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: that they have. But one thing we are concerned about
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: is that if things don't get any better, that these
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: people will leave the workforce. And you know, retail hasn't
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: been immune to the labor shortages that we've seen in
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: every other industry, and it's going to be hard for
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: supermarkets to recruit stuff if things don't get better.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on, Like, you don't want to lose these
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: people particularly in places like Central Australia, even here in Darwin.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: If you've got great employees, you want to be able
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: to keep them absolutely, you know you want them to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: stay for as long as possible.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely, And you know, like I worked in
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: retail as a kid. You know, I want to see
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you know, other young territories entering the workforce and you know,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: getting into retail and you know having the same experiences
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: that I did. But obviously, you know, if the behavior
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: within stores doesn't improve, I think supermarkets will struggle to
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: track staff.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon your spot on Well SCHLOCKSHAMA, the Union,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: well the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association NT director
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming in this morning. Thanks so much
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: for your time.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,