John Hannett – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Devolving Sunday trading to over 300 local authorities will strangle the retail industry in red tape. What the Government is proposing is undesirable and unworkable.
“Their claims to be offering additional protection for shopworkers amounts to nothing more than what has existed for the last twenty years. 91% of our members working in retail oppose longer Sunday trading because they know it will have an adverse effect on family life and put them under even more pressure to work longer hours on a Sunday.
“The Government has delayed publishing their amendments until the last minute, having not put the changes in the Devolution Bill. They haven’t published the responses to the consultation because they know there is large scale opposition to devolution of Sunday trading from retailers, shopworkers and the wider community who want Sunday to remain different.
“The Sunday Trading Act is a great British compromise, which has worked well for over 20 years and gives everyone a little bit of what they want. Retailers can trade, customers can shop, staff can work; whilst Sunday remains a special day, different to other days, and shopworkers can spend some time with their family.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fourth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 440,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 17% in the last five years and by nearly a third in the last decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the Union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
Usdaw survey of retail staff: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=e401039e-75f9-4675-8216-56fa579b65b0
The BIS Consultation closed on 16 September and applies to England and Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/devolving-sunday-trading-rules
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion