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Co-op staff have accused the supermarket of putting their safety and security at risk by having too few people on duty – with some saying they have been threatened while working alone on the shop floor.
Despite a surge in theft, many report being left alone to pack online orders and manage self-checkouts and tills in some small stores. In larger outlets, staff say they can be left in the same position when a colleague takes a break or is managing deliveries.
Now fears have risen as the Co-op, which has campaigned extensively on the problem of shoplifting, rolls out Project Lunar, a plan to introduce lone working with only one person on duty in quieter stores. The scheme, which was trialled in five locations last year, is being expanded to a total of 60 branches.
This is in addition to the “one-on-one” operations at many other stores, under which one member of staff carries out duties such as filling shelves or managing the stockroom, while the other is on the till and is at times the only public-facing worker. The Co-op would not confirm how many outlets use this arrangement.
“Shoplifters threaten to stab staff or, as I was told by one disgusting female, that she would smash my face in,” said a member of Co-op store staff based in south London.
“I’m a grandmother who doesn’t need this. I’ve also witnessed male shoplifters get Stanley knives and screwdrivers to threaten staff members,” she told the campaign group Organise.
Another worker said she felt “very unsafe” when working in a two-person team – with one person filling shelves and another on the till.
“You can be alone on the shop floor when one of you goes for a break and I always feel scared,” she said.
“The more people on the shop floor, the greater the deterrent for shoplifters and abusive members of the public,” another member of Co-op staff added. “We have known shoplifters that will look in the door to see what and how many staff are on duty.”
More than 3,000 shoppers have also backed a campaign calling on the Co-op to ditch lone working, saying they have witnessed staff struggling to cope.
“Working conditions at my local Co-op are not good, on many occasions I have seen only one staff member on the shop floor, manning the till and stacking shelves,” one told Organise.
Honor Barber, a campaigner at Organise whose survey of Co-op workers found more than 80% felt unsafe while at work because of short-staffing, said: “The Co-op reported a 35% jump in underlying profit to £131m in April, with revenue steady at £11.3bn in 2024.
“Meanwhile, workers are being stretched to breaking point. Co-op are prioritising profit over staff and customer safety.”
She said workers were trying to manage the fallout from a cyber-attack that has left many outlets short of stock “without adequate staffing” while having to carry out more manual processes while IT systems were down.
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“Co-op know the violence and abuse that their workers face, but instead of providing adequate staffing levels to make workers feel safer are instead investing in new headsets and forms of AI surveillance. Workers are clear on what they need to feel safe – minimum staffing levels per store,” she said.
“In the midst of a cyber-attack that left shoppers without essentials across the UK, Co-op workers were still working one-on-one shifts or without adequate staffing levels, leaving them vulnerable to violence.”
A Co-op spokesperson said: “Co-op is committed to serving and supporting our communities, providing good value prices, excellent promotions and quality products for all of our members and customers.
“Alongside a rewarding and safe working environment for our colleagues across all our stores. Co-op has been at the forefront of campaigning for a crackdown on retail crime, investing in the very latest security measures, with the safety and wellbeing of all colleagues as our clear priority.”
It said that more than 90% of the overall hours worked by its staff were not one-on-one and its Project Lunar stores were set up so workers would not be left alone during deliveries and at busier times of day such as opening and closing times.
However, some workers have said that in practice they have already had to work alone at such times because of the heavy workload during one-on-one working.
The retail group added that it had spent £240m over the past five years on safety measures, four times the sector average per store.
