To think it is time to extend Sunday opening hours?

[Sundayopeningplease]

It really is time for the restrictive Sunday trading hours to be lifted. The archaic laws have not kept up with modern society.

Sunday may traditionally have been a family day but there have been a lot of changes since then. People are in increasingly different family set ups. The working hours have changed for a lot of people and being able to shop on a Sunday morning would improve things greatly. It would help trade for businesses too.

Sunday is now a major shopping day and the hours need to reflect this.

@Socrateswasrightaboutvoting not sure why you've tagged me. I'm not even sure what your last paragraph means. I don't want extended opening hours and I'm not sneering at anyone. Spending time with your family is a good enough a reason as any not to work Sundays, whatever class you are.

No worries 😂 excuse my last post also.

I realised as soon as I posted but couldn't edit!😂 I assume the edit button is only on premium.

Totally agree OP.

I live in Ireland and traditionally our Sunday trading hours were 12 to 6pm (we obviously like our lie ins 😄). But there is no law on it any more. A lot of shops still stick to those hours but some shops, mainly grocery shops, do tend to open longer now on a Sunday. Don't think it's impacted in any way on family life. Not everyone works 9 to 5, Mon to Fri anymore

In my area none of the supermarkets have gone back to 24 hour opening since covid.

With electric costs, heating costs and staff wages shops would be better off opening less hours not more

54% of people have said YABU?? Seriously 🤣😭😩

I agree with you OP. I think it’s a bizarrely ineffective way for the government to try and engineer our culture, it doesn’t do anything of worthy of a legal limitation on business and is a sop to our theocracy. If we are going to protect the hours some workers are required to cover we should be looking at night shifts, which significantly impacts workers’ long term health, not weekend working for workers in one particular industry.

So are you taking umbrage with shops not being open longer or because some people who might be middle class want to keep it as it is?

Why am I taking umbrage at smug rich people calling disabled working class people "entitled and disorganised", acting like anyone who shops on a Sunday is probably going to the shops every single day of the week (rather than only shopping on a Sunday as that's their one day off) and claiming there's no reason on earth anyone can't do their shopping on a weekday?

I don't believe for one second that any of the posters insisting shops not open at all on Sundays actually work six days a week.

If you want shorter hours then lobby for better workers' rights. I'd fucking LOVE to not have to work every evening and Saturday, but no one gives a shit about my "rights" to have time off, do they?

I think the hours that supermarkets are open should be better spread out over the 7 days. I understand some shop workers don't want to work longer on Sundays for various reasons but do they want to work until midnight either? I'd be happy if they closed at 9pm but opened 3 or 4 more hours on a Sunday.

I always see the same arguments on these threads:

”Awwh, what about the poor retail workers and their families? THEY deserve time off too you know!”

That's all well and good if all retail workers want to spend each and every Sunday at home with their families, all day. If, however, they want to go out for Sunday lunch, or to the cinema, or a theme park or to the football, it’s a bit hypocritical to suggest their own working hours should be legally restricted while others work. Why are retailers a special case, yet bar and waiting staff, door and security staff etc. don’t deserve the same thing?

”If you’re that desperate to shop, just do it online!”

Do people think online orders are managed by magic pixies? Apparently the only retail workers who deserve time off are those who work in a physical store. Sainsbury’s are offering delivery slots from 6.30am to 11.30th this Sunday. Who do you think picks, packs and delivers those orders? Amazon also delivers on Sundays now - and yes, that means drivers and warehouse staff work too.

This thread is a perfect example of the very low comprehension of many people. It precisely captures that literact test like how would you feel this morning if you hadn't had dinner yesterday? But I did.

It's like that level of understanding over and over again. But I work in retail (only as a checkout assistant in a big store not any warehouse or shelf stacker or delivery driver or shop smaller than 280sf) and I want to see my family so the current law should stay. Pretty clear why these people work in retail 🙄.

There's enough slavery already, think of the workers. People can shop on a Sunday morning, from 10am usually, earlier and for longer than 6 hours, if it is a business with a smaller premises, plus some retailers open half an hour earlier for browsing, before the checkouts open.

They wouldn't be forced to. No one takes a job not knowing the hours they'll be expected to work.

And actually I'm sure many would appreciate the bonus hours.

I work in retail in Scotland, currently part time but previously full time.

Sunday working was just part of our routine, we had it set up that everyone worked one Sunday in four and nobody was traumatised. I actually liked working on a Sunday as it was quieter than during the week and it meant I had a free day during the week for any appointments etc.

We had several people who requested to work Sunday, especially in preference to Saturday.

Would extended Sunday trading be of financial benefit to the retailer? Would the consumer have extra money to spend on Sundays? Who would fill all these extra jobs? The last few years more and more shops are joining the not open Boxing day group at probably a big hit to their profits as a way of giving back to their staff, although I suspect its also for publicity. I worked in retail in my student year for extra money, there were quite a few of us weekend workers with a high call in sick rate on a Sunday, either someone had partied to hard or someone's kid was ill. Even though people knew the hours involved it happened every single weekend. Hats of to anyone who works in retail, I've been there.

Hi just interested do Scottish workers get a premium for working Sunday? I'm sure I read somewhere they do, I haven't any Scottish friends in retail to.ask.
Perhaps if uk retailers payed a premium Sunday rate that might boost the economy and fill the jobs? Of couse that cost would end up being passed to the consumer, whether that's in the supermarket or the clothing store etc.

I've never been paid extra for working on a Sunday, although I'm sure some do. Previous jobs are supermarket, discount retail and currently charity shop retail.

Although when I first started working we opened Christmas Day and I got triple time for working that, but that was almost 30 years ago.

Ah thanks for the reply. I just found an article explaining it and it was the SNP who put the blocks on the uk opening hours because they were worried Scottish retail workers would no longer get sunday premium pay from the big names if they had to pay the same premium across the whole of the UK.

Yes we would be forced to as employers would just change people's hours using the "needs of the business" clause. Pretty much every major retailer has this clause in their contracts to justify changing days/hours employees have to work and if they objected then they'd just lose the hours or be given other inconvenient hours (or in the case of temps/zero hours workers just wouldn't be scheduled again) which will essentially force people to work Sundays or be left worse off.

I have known people be told they need to do a 6hr shift on a particular day and when they refused, the manager then offered a split shift of 2×3hr blocks as that was "the only option to keep their hours as there's no other hours available" ... The staff member ended up agreeing to the 6hr shift because they couldn't afford to lose the hours but the split shift just wasn't practical due to their circumstances. So whilst nobody held a gun to their head to make them take the hours, the manager knew which buttons to push to force the hours they wanted through.

I took a job knowing that my hours would be any time between 6am and 11 pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 5pm Sunday. So I knew that, no matter what days/hours I was scheduled and whether or not my days off were the same every week, every week I was guaranteed to always have a lie in on a Sunday morning and also be guaranteed to be home to have dinner and spend the evening with my DD.

If stores were not restricted on Sundays that guarantee is gone and the hours I am expecting to work (and that I signed up to work) are changed. So the fact I took the job, knowing the hours, means nothing because they can just be changed unilaterally and I have no say on the matter.

Nobody I work with want more hours with customers on the stores, especially on a Sunday as that's the day we can get the most work done as the store is closed longer, and if you want "bonus hours" then there are always overtime shifts for stocking/home shopping picking etc that are jobs done when the store is closed. Additionally things like annual stock taking, inventory management, display changes, maintenance to machinery/fixtures etc are all scheduled, as much as possible, on Sundays as it gives the teams the longest time possible without customers in the building, which makes it safer and less inconvenience for everyone.

You couldn't be forced to.

Shop workers legally have the right to opt out of working on Sundays.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/working-hours-and-rest-breaks/check-if-you-have-to-work-on-sundays/#:~:text=Giving%20notice%20to%20opt%20out,sign%20and%20date%20the%20notice.

Completely misses @melj1213 's point. No employer has ever coerced an employee to work for pay and conditions they don't want, ever!

I think the important thing here though is how a change like this would be brought in. So with proper negotiation/ consultation with staff and unions. Adequate legislation etc.

I know people who still work to their original contracts enshrining their right not to work Sundays for example

Currently we do but if they took away Sunday Trading Laws that restricted the hours shops can open, I'm fairly certain that they would take away the law that allows retail workers to opt out of Sunday working too.

Also there are many ways employers can get round the rules ... For example if my employer said "You have a 18hr contract, we need you to work 3×6hr shifts Sunday, Monday and Tuesday". If I opt out of Sunday working then they are not legally obliged to give me a 6hr shift on another day (and of they really need people to work on Sundays they will definitely not offer other hours) instead so my choice is lose a third of my hours or work on Sundays ... Most of us working in retail are on NMW (or just above) and we can't afford to lose money and often can't "just get another job" (as many people often suggest, as though jobs are abundant for everyone, everywhere)