To think if you want retail workers to get Boxing Day off...

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

... the same should apply to bar and restaurant staff, cinema staff etc.?

The last couple of years now I’ve seen campaigns on Facebook pushing for all shops to be closed on Boxing Day to give retail workers ‘A precious day off with their families’. ‘We can all cope for one day without the shops, for heaven’s sake!’, people say, as magnanimous as you like. Yet they go on to wax lyrical about how retail workers deserve to be able to go to the pub or for lunch with their families, or to the panto, like everyone else.

Who do these people think are cooking the meals, serving the drinks etc.? Taking their tickets and showing them their tickets at the theatre? Why don’t these people deserve to be graciously awarded a day off by the great British public - regardless of whether they might actually want the overtime?

AIBU to think that if you’ve ever been to the pub, restaurant, theatre, cinema etc. on Boxing Day, you’re being a massive hypocrite by supporting this kind of campaign?

YANBU.

Boxing Day is a working day for thousands of catering, leisure and hospitality workers, so retail workers should not be considered a special case.

Well the banks should open as well then. Why are they a special case.

And the recruitment offices. Why do they get BD off After all shops will always need staff right?!

“Well the banks should open as well then. Why are they a special case.”

They aren’t a special case. They’re free to open on Boxing Day too if they want. And even though they have resisted pressure to open branches they will have lots of employees working trying to ensure all the transactions that people want to make happen.

"So is it that you think that retail staff are as vital as emergency service workers and Some NHS staff are"

I pointed this out on a similar thread last year.

If it is just as important for retail workers to be in work as it is health/NHS workers then surely they should be paid the same................oh but wait as soon as this is pointed out its backtrack city and comments about how retail isnt as important. But you cant have it both ways.

Its actually quite nasty to only want a pretend sort of parity that helps some feel superior to shopworkers. The bit where they should all be in on BD And not true parity where they should all be paid the same. As they are just as important if its highly nessacary for them to be in.

Same could be said for hospitality workers though, because if it's just as important for them to be in work then shouldn't they be paid the same too? Saying they should work over Christmas and New Year because other services do but don't think they deserve the pay because that's what you sign up for? That's what you sign up for in retail. Essential NHS and services workers have skills that are needed without a doubt on public holidays. People would literally die without them. No one would die from not staying in a hotel, going out for Christmas lunch or a good boxing Day/NYE piss up or from not getting into a shop at 5am Boxing Day.
So why do retail workers deserve time off with their families but not hospitality? Neither are essential services.
For me I take it as part of the job, I know what I was getting into, but it does feel like hospitality really is bottom of the heap. No one's starting campaigns and speaking out saying shut the pubs, hotels and restaurants.

It's not that they 'refuse' many don't even know that retail/hospitality staff can join a union, and then you've got the fees, which when you're counting every penny make it hard to justify. No protection at all under 2 years, add to that 0 hours contracts - kick up a fuss and that's exactly what you'll get, and nearly all employers are the same so it's not like changing jobs makes a huge difference either. You don't 'allow' yourself to be treated that way, all staff are treated this way and in fear of losing the job they have and therefore the ability to put food on the table if they kick up a fuss - and it's been normalised. Perhaps if all the staff joined a union it might make a difference, but one or two won't and most are too worried about rocking the boat to stick their neck out.*

Union subs are a % of your earnings, if job protection and zero hours contracts aren’t a worry then unions aren’t for you. Unions don’t have to have everyone in a team as a member to take action.

annual leave, paid annual leave, sick pay, maternity rights at work, 8 hour working day, employment contracts, breaks after 5 hours, are all fought for by the unions. As the unions have diminished so have workers rights been eroded - zero hours

If you want to have security & food on the table etc then the best thing is to join a union and act collectively to prevent being bullied and not every member of staff needs to join to make it effective- but people do have a choice and don’t have to allow this treatment

Some people like working Boxing Day and Christmas. They usually get paid well for it and it means they have a chance to get away from their families. I think people should be given the choice to work and be paid well for doing it. I do admire big retail chains who don't open though.

Would folk be willing to pay double prices on Boxing day to cover double staff wages?

I used to work holidays & liked it. No childcare cost. Single parents missing their own kids (other parent has them for the hol), lonely folk who don't have anyone else to make contact with on the day, extra tips in the holiday season for those who get tips. Busy which is better than slow. There's a lot to like.

www.usdaw.org.uk/ If you work in a shop you can join this union, a union is only as strong as its members

Billy ally working intensively Boxing Day is supposed to be voluntary....but it isnt

I find this kind of ridiculous. So I shouldn’t go out anywhere on Boxing Day as some kind of protest? I find it quite hard to get worked up that some people work Boxing Day, I say that as someone who spent many years working Boxing Days! I never cared. It seems like a bit of a non-issue tbh

Do at least TRY to read it properly.

Would folk be willing to pay double prices on Boxing day to cover double staff wages?

I get paid double for Boxing Day - always have done and that's across three separate retail jobs. I know some places just pay regular wages but that's certainly not the case everywhere. I earn close to £20 an hour for all my bank holiday shifts.

Shops don't refuse to pay double because they can't afford to - they do it because they know they can get away with not bothering.

I used to get 3x pay on bank holidays as a driver. Lots of people seemed happy to sacrifice a Friday and Monday to make a grand.

I don't know why any of these places - including pubs - have to be open on boxing day?

We're going out for dinner today to celebrate Christmas in an entirely different way than last year due to a family bereavement. We've chosen somewhere where the people who work there aren't Christian and so this isn't one of their religious holidays. It was the only way I could manage the guilt!

However people do choose to work, some places have good systems in place to ensure a fair process and I remember getting triple time when I worked in retail!

I don't know why any of these places - including pubs - have to be open on boxing day?

Because business is about making money, and Boxing Day is one of the busiest days of the year.

I worked in hospitality for close to 10 years and honestly, it's only the past couple of Christmases where I've actually appreciated Christmas. I'm out of hospitality now and I'm off work! No scrapping around trying to organise your life in-between 12-14 hour shifts and 60 hour weeks. I've been able to make plans more than a week ahead and book things for our family like panto trips etc.

I haven't been groped this year either. No drunken arsehole trying it on or offering me to suck his dick in exchange for his drink. No drunken women accusing me of checking out their fella. No arguments about splitting tips, no trying to swap shifts so you can make it to that family meal you've missed for the past 5 years.

Hopefully as we become more and more a 24/7 world all other industries and work places will start to follow suit. Be interesting to see how many people who take bank holidays for granted will feel if they have to work them.

I don't go out at all on boxing day. Usually not even the day after unless working. It's the holidays, I'm too busy eating chocolate, getting fat(ter) and watching films.

Just shut places for two days. If its not open people can't use it.

Most retail workers don't get extra for working bank holidays or Christmas etc.
The cabbies round here may coin it in but that's it! I feel it's sad , but I doubt anything will change anytime soon.

@Biancadelrioisback

Your last paragraph really resonates having done all the Christmas parties this year and last night, tonight and doing tomorrow and then when you object to being groped, having someone be totally inappropriate to you it's all 'cheer up love and don't be miserable, it's Christmas!' oh well that makes it ok then!

I don't know why any of these places - including pubs - have to be open on boxing day?

Because where I've worked at least, it's all about the needs of the business, and customers demand it, and as we all know the customer is always right and they pay our wages so we should just shut up and be grateful.

There are a lot of lonely people out there who would have nowhere to go & no easy way to see people if they couldn't go to the shop or the pub.

There are a lot of lonely people out there who would have nowhere to go & no easy way to see people if they couldn't go to the shop or the pub

Yup- so many assumptions in this thread that boxing day is keeping people from having cosy family get togethers. For people on their own on Christmas day, or people who aren't lucky enough to have nice, decent families, another day completely alone is awful.