By Nick Redfern / @nick_red
We are in a recession, and in order for a country to leave a recession, it must experience a growth in spending. This can be achieved through an increase in consumer spending, business spending, government spending or a combination of all three. To quote a business that would welcome this proposition: “Every Little Helps!”
I propose the abolition of the restrictions on shops’ Sunday opening hours. The current law (in England and Wales) prevents shops greater than 280 m2 (3,014 sq. ft.) to open for longer than 6 hours or outside of 10am to 6pm on Sundays. Many varying reasons are given for these restrictions, but I find none of them to be satisfactory.
I’ll start with the most indefensible argument: that it’s “God’s day.” You may well believe that, but most people do not. In this day and age, such an argument is ridiculous: why should one group be able to force its religious practices against others?
While on the topic of religion, the current rules hamper employers, workers and customers, solely for observing a religion other than Christianity, which happens to not designate Sunday as a “holy day.” This puts them at a disadvantage, just for not being a Christian.
One argument used by proponents of Sunday Trading Law is that it provides “family time.” Surely it should be down to the members of said families if they want to spend time together on a specific day of the week, and not pushed upon them by legislation. Perhaps a more noble cause would be to provide more opportunities for families to engage together during the week.
The main concern of the trade unions, in regards to Sunday Trading Law, is that employees could be forced to work on a Sunday by their employer. The current legislation guarantees the right of employees to refuse to work on Sundays, without fear of reprisal from their employers. (In fact, this right was later given to employees in Scotland, where Sunday trading hours are not restricted.) Some might say that this is an inadequate protection for workers; however it's the only protection that shop workers in small shops, Scotland or any of the exempt shop types have. (Some of the exemptions I find to be quite odd, such as: “any shop where the trade or business carried on consist wholly or mainly of the sale of intoxicating liquor.” Why is this granted a special exemption?)
While this is all well and good for those with jobs, what about those without? Unemployment currently stands at around 2.47 million. History of previous recessions teaches us that the central economic question has to be “does this policy have the potential to boost employment.” By allowing shops to open for longer on Sundays, jobs will be created both directly and indirectly (or at the very least the number of job losses reduced).
I hope that unions like USDAW will recognise the need for both their members, currently in work, to stay in work - and for those unemployed to get into work.
(Special thanks to Tom Watson for help with a particular sentence)
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The current conservative Sunday Trading Laws need to be scrapped.
The government (and certainly the Church) should not tell people how to spend their free time.
Funny how France and Germany, where most shops are shut for at least Sunday, have managed to get out of recession without increasing their opening hours. More seriously, where do you think consumers are going to get the money to spend? It seems that net private borrowing is falling slowly now: the public know what to do, even if the government does not.
Obviously we or the proposer don't believe in energy savings policies.
You cannot open shops 7 days a week - with heating lighting and cooling and travel - and expect to reduce CO2 emissions.
Most of those shop workers are low paid and many will be paid by the hour. Cut the hours, cut the wages.
Maybe I misinterpreted the true genius of the recovery package; a simultaneous increase in both spending and saving.
And another bow to consumerism (spend your way out of recession - that's reet grand) and the great god profit.
I don't think so.
Do you live on the same planet as me, Nick? Mine is the one where kids go to school or nursery on weekdays.
As for employees not being forced to work on Sundays - you should maybe talk to some.
Does this matter in the internet shopping age ? i can order my shopping when the shop is closed and it turns up the day after , All i ask what would be the cost ?
ricki
I have no desire to protect the Christian "sabbath" in particular - I always thought the Tories could wrongfoot the Keep Sunday Special campaign by saying, "OK, we'll keep one day a week special for the sake of the family. Let's make it Saturday!" – but I do believe that the principle of a weekly sabbath is a sound one, and I've always understood that in several countries on the Continent, including France and Germany, there remains a much stronger tradition of observing Sunday as a day for the family. I think it's rather naive to say that "surely it should be down to ... families if they want to spend time together on a specific day" - in practice, that is much harder to achieve if everything is working together to homogenise the week.
How ironic that it should be on LabourList that someone proposes to complete what Thatcher left unfinished.
Nick try working for one of the big nationals and tell them that you dont want to work on Sunday's and see how long your job last's, law or no law. Perhaps with your longer working hours you can bring in a law that gives workers "double time" instead of letting big companies get round it by giving a day off in the week when the partner is at work and the kids are at school, how usefull is that?
Perhaps we should open all day Sunday then have a national early closing day so all shops either don't open on the Monday or close by 9:30. Also have 2 shopworkers Sundays when all shops are closed, one late Nov and one late Jan.