Should Sunday trading restrictions be lifted?

Lithian

MSE_Martin wrote: »

My personal view is that Sunday trading should be the same, but we should have protected employment rights for those practising members of faiths

Why not protected employment rights for all?

Could I claim to be both Jewish and Christian and get both Saturday and Sunday off?

torbrex

DaybreakGirl wrote: »

I am sick to death of this, Sunday Trading should be stopped everywhere, including the garages and small corner shops. There is plenty of time to go shopping Monday to Saturday. Family time should be Sunday and this forcing of people to have to work Sundays should stop it is unacceptable. I am not religious so it is not down to that.

I would go further than that, I would ban everyone from working on Sundays.
No police, fire brigade, ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses, electricity/gas workers, TV/radio stations, internet, newspapers, church ministers, in fact everyone in the country should stop work for 24 hours at the same time, just a complete shut-down.

What a wonderful world it would be

Ben200775

In an already struggling economy. Extending the opening hours only puts more pressure on struggling firms to open longer to compete with the larger companies. People have no more money to spend so it just spreads the sales over the longer period increasing payroll costs but not increasing overall sale. Look at when sunday trading was brought in orginally. It just took the sales out of saturday. The other effect is it spreads the staff hours over the longer period leaving less staff available at peak times effecting the level of service you can provide. It is nothing to do with a religious holiday or effecting the quality of family life. Because yes other industries work longer hours on a Sunday. It is about cost. It could be a large enough of a burden to close businesses already on the brink.

Whiteknight

No way anyone is going to be able to turn back the clock so things should stay as they are. I don't work Sundays any more but remember when they were first introduced and what was said about people not being forced to work them.

I used to work in retail and it started off that I was paid double time to work on a Sunday move on a few years and the company I was with changed the contracts for all new starters so that Sunday became part of the normally working week with no premium paid (they did have the option to opt out of Sunday working but this was discussed before the job was offered)

lkate

I'm not religious in any way. But I work in retail, and I'm not sure if any of you have noticed or not, but we have lives too and we're not just robots there to serve you! I read a comment on the BBC where someone was saying how they had to organise their day because there is sports on a Sunday and they need to go to the shop..... Can't you go on a Saturday, or a Monday or if it's so important go first thing in the morning?
Sales assistants already work unsociable hours as it is. Our shop is open until 8pm weekdays, 6pm Saturday, 5pm Sunday. We're open on bank holidays too. I'm lucky to say we're not open on Boxing day but we have to stay in the shop until 6pm on Christmas eve. And for a pitiful wage too!
I think it's fair to say there are enough shopping hours during the week (24hours some of them). I'd like to keep what I have left of my weekend thanks.....

nearlyrich

I’m not a practicing member of any religion
My View is this one
Allow trading on Sunday like any other day

I hate to see kids being dragged round the Trafford Centre whining at any time of the day or night and it should be compulsory for parents to take their little darlings somewhere more appropriate but the fact remains sometimes it would be nice to not have to worry about rushing down to Tesco before 4pm when the sun shines and we want a BBQ.

I understand all the issues about people who want to go to church, no-one is stopping you it's not even suggested that it should become compulsory for everyone to spend Sunday shopping. If you are unemployed surely it's better to have a retail job that means working some weekends than have no job?

Let's show the world we are open for business and not just for a couple of weeks in the summer.....

lkate

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Religion is what the discussion is about. Sunday Trading rules originate from protecting the Christian sabbath - the two are linked.

The poll indicates very effectively that views are different whether you are a member of a faith or not.

My personal view is that Sunday trading should be the same, but we should have protected employment rights for those practising members of faiths that they should not be disenfrachised or suffer any work or promotion deterioration from not working on their holy days.

I'd like to see what the difference would be for those who work in places open on a Sunday and those who don't. Rather than on the basis of religion.....

JackieSparkle

If the High Street is going to have any chance of competing with internet sales, shops are going to have to wake up to the fact that they need to be open for longer hours every day, not just on Sundays.

BigStevie1973

Unless I am mistaken (and I may well be!), employment law states that no one can work for more than eight consecutive days without a day off and there is also a limit to the maximum number of hours people are allowed to work in a single week (apart from some professions like junior doctors etc.) so again I say give the businesses the choice to open and close when they please.

There is a local farm shop near to me that is allowed to open on a Sunday but as the owners are devout Christians, they chose not to even though doing so would earn them a lot of money (they are very popular). Also, if you take the example of certain bars in England being allowed to open 24 hours a day if they chose, many / most do not as there simply isn't the demand. Just because a business is permitted to trade on a Sunday does not mean that they will or have to.

GIVE PEOPLE THE CHOICE!!!

thelawnet

Do you think you could practise your spelling?

My Doctor's Practice is open 9am till 5pm.
He has been practising medicine since he left university.

The noun has a 'c', the verb an 's'.