COUNTER staff at a dozen of Sean Graham's bookmakers' offices in Belfast are to be balloted on taking strike action amid concerns over their health and safety.
According to the Unite union, around 60 workers are often made to operate alone in bookies shops at open counters without protective screens or reinforced glass which might prevent theft or attacks from aggressive customers.
"Most of these workers are females, and working alone also means they don't even have the opportunity to take comfort breaks or lunch breaks," Unite's regional officer Davy McMurray said.
“Sean Graham is a highly profitable company, yet management expect its employees, most of whom are women paid poverty-wages, to work with inadequate health and safety protections.
“Cost-cutting has left some staff members working by themselves in bookies with no opportunity to take breaks.
“In many cases, employees work at open counters without protective screens or reinforced glass which might prevent theft or aggression from customers.
"We are demanding a zero tolerance approach to be taken to abusive behaviour from customers. Everyone is entitled to work in an environment free from harassment, intimidation and the threat of violence."
He added: “Unite has raised these concerns with management but they have failed to engage constructively at all. As a result, we have no choice but to proceed with a consultative ballot of our members over industrial action.
“To avoid unnecessary disruption to the business, we are calling on management to engage positively and address our concerns in regard to health and safety and pay with immediate effect.”
A spokesman for Sean Graham told the Irish News: “Management has always put the safety and well-being of staff at the heart of our operations and we continue to do so, so the approach from Unite is very disappointing and belies the facts of the situation.
"Sean Graham has established procedures for dealing with any abuse directed at our staff from whatever quarter.These are based on risk-assessments for each location and we continually review them.
"Our staff costs have increased above inflation and our staffing levels have also increased across our shops. However, the reality is that we do face significant cost increases including the prospect of our shop licence fees increasing by up to 200 per cent. We are ready to engage with Unite and we are hopeful that discussions can take place in the immediate future.”
