Paddy Lillis - Usdaw General Secretary Elect says: “Our members remain absolutely opposed to extended Sunday trading. Belfast City Council are running this consultation again, only a year after the last one, because they want to see whether attitudes have changed towards their proposal. Our survey says yes, attitudes have changed and our members are now even more opposed to extended Sunday trading.

“The current Sunday trading arrangements are a fair 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.

“The number one reason for their opposition is the detrimental effect this would have on their family life. They cite real concerns about the additional pressure they would come under to work on Sundays if shops are open longer.

“In addition, there is clear evidence to show that longer Sunday opening does not benefit the local economy.

“Many shopworkers, particularly parents, tell us how important Sunday is to them and their family. Often it is the one day of the week when everyone can sit down together for a meal, with many saying they needed the time on Sunday to help their children prepare for the school week.

“Belfast is my home city and I am proud of what it has to offer tourists and visitors. There is simply no need to open shops for longer than the current five hours on a Sunday. We have listened to shopworkers views and we hope the City Council will do as well.”

Results of Usdaw's Survey of Members: In March 2018 Usdaw repeated a survey (originally conducted in November 2016) of a representative group of 885 of our members working in retail in Northern Ireland. The results of this survey clearly demonstrate the strength of feeling of Usdaw members, and retail workers, on this subject:

• 94% of respondents thought that shops should not open longer on Sundays (an increase of 9 percentage points since the 2016 survey)
• 80% of respondents currently work at least some Sundays whilst over a quarter work every Sunday.
• Almost two thirds of respondents said that they already come under pressure to work on Sundays.
• Over half of respondents have some form of caring responsibilities, either for children or sick or elderly relatives of these, over three quarters work some Sundays already and over two-thirds are under pressure to work on Sundays. 49% find it difficult to arrange suitable alternative care whilst they are at work.

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the 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.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion