I think the current 6 hours opening on sundays for supermarkets is long enough

[fortyfide]

It is reported that Georgie Osborne is set to increase the hours they can open on Sundays
I thought 10am to 4pm was adequate.

I don't understand why the state insists on telling me when I am allowed to shop.

Having been a supermarket slave I would say they should leave this last small amount of time where it is hard for a company to need you in alone.

All retail workers have a legal right to "opt out" of working Sundays and cannot be discriminated against for it.

In theory. In practice though... yeah not so much. Life as a family of a retail worker is rubbish enough as it is without this, those extra two hours are sacred here!

Opting out was, shall we say, "frowned upon" and anyone who did was branded as trouble causing. Along the same lines as those that were not offered extra shifts since they refused to opt into new contracts.

I hate the thought of all those people who will now be forced to work all weekend (which frankly is when the shops will be busiest and when most staff will be needed) whilst only getting time off when everyone else is at work. Retail has become like the factories in the industrial revolution, work endless hours, get paid crap, no future. Poor sods.

Not everyone has a happy family they want to spend time with. I shudder when I remember Sundays when I was a child.

Great news (if it happens).

I don't see why retail workers need special protection - there are millions of people already working Sunday as if it was any other day - emergency services, hospitals, call centres, restaurants, cinemas, theme parks etc etc.

Sunday trading laws pander to the Christian minority, desperate for the good old days of almost universal Church attendance. The bet most of them have at one time or another been bloody grateful for having a shop open when they wanted/needed it. I well remember my Christian parents, ardent supporters of the keep Sunday special campaign nipping down to the corner shop for some important ingredient for the Sunday roast on the way home from church. Apparently there's a bit in the bible about not leaving your ox in a pit just because it's the Sabbath, which covers double cream emergencies too....

I quit retail because of Sundays - where are all these people who would JUMP at the chance to work Sundays - because we never saw any -

Every time someone who was scheduled to work a Sunday needed a day off - holidays etc then there was a push to get ANYONE in to cover - and working Sat AND Sun I would never get to see my family at all. And however long you are open, people want more.. I worked in a craft store - closed at 8pm during the week - maybe got 3 customers in that last hour - one invariably at 7.55 - I'm just not cut out to be nice to people when I see my hourly bus disappearing over the bridge...

My husband currently works in retail and if he works on a Sunday he still does a full shift it doesn't matter when the shop opens he's there from 9 - 5 or whatever shift he does. That was also the case when I worked in retail many moons ago. So I doubt it will make much difference for many retail workers.

Well I have clearly been living in a bubble (north of the border) because I had no idea this happened in Englandshire.
Next you'll be telling me therr's a whole different legal system...

Actually having decent opening hours on a Sunday works well for us as we don't work Mon to Fri so Sunday is not our weekend, iyswim. It's our Tuesday.

It's such an annoyance that DIY stores have to close at 4pm on a Sunday. Especially in the summer, I frequently do (non noisy) DIY or gardening jobs until 8pm or so on a Sunday evening. The number of times I have realised that I need to buy something to finish the job at 4.10pm is more annoying than I care to think about.

When do office workers get a chance to do 'workday' stuff!? I never knew half day closing was for this! Makes me even more pissed off tbh, I'm always forgetting about it and the anger I feel at my wasted journey, well, I could crush a grape!!! if I could even buy one

I said up thread that I happily used Asda on a Sunday evening to get bread etc for the Monday packed lunches during the 7 years I was in Scotland but to be honest I dont miss it.

My husband has a job that means he is comitted to work any of the 365 days a year and any time of the day or night.

But life has just become a rush and a blur. No one stops to appreciate and enjoy their family.

I think its really tragic that we live in a society when people cannot think of anything to do other than spend money somewhere. Simple pleasures in life are there - we are running ourselves ragged though to realise that and have actually forgotten.

Like I say our German friends manage perfectly well. There are even laws there about mowing your lawn and pegging our washing on a Sunday. They take their time off and family time seriously.

I was working very long hours (office work) before Sunday trading came in. I still managed to squeeze in my Supermarket shop and any other shopping during the week or a Saturday perfectly well without Sunday opening. We all just think we cannot cope without it but we could,easily with a bit of thought.

no leave the hours as they are. I would prefer it if they weren't open on a Sunday.

I don't understand why we need shorter shopping hours on Sunday's, being foreign and all. It pisses me off when I noticed I needed something from the shop at 3.30 on Sunday. It's only 3.30 and fgs why should the shops close so early!

No idea why in the age of multicultural and multifaith Britain that Sunday should be sacrosanct. Muslims treat Friday as their special religious day, Jews Saturday and Christians Sunday.

I go to church on Sunday and would quite like my Sainsbury open when I come out so I can shop on the way home if I need anything for Sunday lunch.

No one is forcing you to shop on Sunday and church is a place you can go at various times in the week.

How many of the people who object to Sunday opening hours being extended currently get home-shopping deliveries booked outside of the current Sunday trading hours?

If so, what is the difference?

No - no one is forcing you to shop on a Sunday - but they may try forcing me to work on one - of course legally they can't, but they will...

"Can't do Sunday - oh, don't have any hours for you next week",
" you know that leave you booked, well needs of business means I'll need you in - of course if you did Sunday....."

How many of the people NOT objecting work in retail... and would love to add Sundays into their rota?

This is my point about the retial workers. Legally there are clauses but in reality there is pressure to work, exactly like Somewhere says.

I know someone who said they couldnt work Sundays and then told they had to work Xmas Eve and boxing day and NYE and NYD to make up for it. When challenged they denied it was because of not working Sundays but it had been overheard verbally. No proof to take a tribunal but this kind of thing happens all the time and it will get worse.

Our kids wil end up working a life where time with their own families and children will be something they rarely experience. I think that is tragic.

But why are retail workers special? Loads of occupations require you to work Sundays or Christmas or whatever.

DH works in retail and the whole Sunday trading thing was badly handled from the start. All they had to do was build in legislation to say that you had to have different staff working Sunday to the rest of the week. Jobs for teens/anyone who wanted extra money, while protecting the main workforce.

DH could in theory opt out of Sunday but they don't have to make up the hours. So you could be down to 4 days most weeks. Great for the family, except his pay would be down by 20%.

Why shouldn't retail workers be special. Nobody actually needs to shop. It's not exactly on a par with ambulance staff and firefighting.

Am I right in thinking that in Germany and Switzerland women with children frequently don't work, or work very part time, so are able to do the shopping, Banking etc during weekday opening hours?

But it's not just emergency workers who have to work on Sundays. There are a huge number of non-emergency workers who have to work any day of the week. And tbh if you're already working 6 hours would it not be preferable to do a full shift rather than have to do extra hours during the week?

I don't think 6 hours on a Sunday is anywhere near long enough. That's only from a purely selfish point of view. So I understand the opposition from small shopkeepers who might lose business. And also people working in large supermarkets might not be happy about this.

I wonder about the impact on small shopkeepers too, they're struggling to compete as it is.

FWIW, where I live, the only places open on a Sunday are the newsagents and the pub, we manage. There's also half day closing on a Wednesday.