Usdaw Santas drop into Scottish Parliament to launch bill to stop big stores opening on Xmas Day and New Year's Day

Retail union Usdaw's elite Santa hit squad were joined by their trusty reindeer Rudolph to launch a new parliamentary bill that aims to stop big stores in Scotland opening on Xmas Day and New Year's day.

Rudolph and the Usdaw Santas helped Airdrie and Shotts MSP Karen Whitefield formally introduce the bill into Holyrood that will ban big stores opening on two of Scotland's most important festive holidays.

“This bill will make it illegal for big stores to open on two very special days in Scotland's festive calendar,” says Karen Whitefield. “I believe that most shoppers in Scotland would prefer to spend Xmas Day and New Year's Day with their families and Usdaw have made a compelling case to me that shopworkers across Scotland overwhelmingly support that view.

“If this bill is passed it will bring us into line with the rest of the UK where big stores are banned from opening on Xmas Day and I'm grateful to Usdaw for their support because they have highlighted the negative effect on their members who are already struggling to achieve a healthy work/life balance.

“I've already got significant cross-party support for this bill so I'm confident that 2006 will be the last Xmas and New Year's Day when shopworkers will have to leave their families and go to work when the rest of us are still celebrating.”

Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett joined the Santas to endorse the bill on behalf of Scotland's shopworkers.

“The only people working on Xmas Day should be Santa and his reindeers. Our members across Scotland have made it crystal clear that they have absolutely no wish to leave their families and go to work on Xmas Day and New Year's Day,” said John Hannett. “We're very grateful to Karen for introducing this bill as it proves that politicians in Scotland are listening to their constituents as our experience tells us there is no appetite from Scotland's shoppers for big stores to be open on those two special days.

“A bill banning large stores opening on Xmas Day was passed at Westminster and has had no negative impact on the retail sector elsewhere in the UK, but it has allowed our members to spend some much needed time with their families to recharge their batteries ready to face the challenges of the coming retail year. “

Notes to Editors:

• Rudolph and the Usdaw Santas joined Karen Whitefield MSP outside the main entrance of the Scottish Parliament to launch the bill at 1pm on Wednesday March 22nd 2006.
• Contacts for newsdesks: Usdaw's Media Officer, Paul Clarke, can be contacted on 0161 249 2469 or e-mail paul.clarke@usdaw.org.uk.
• Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union, with over 340,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
• More information and news releases are available at our online Newsroom.
• Journalists can subscribe to receive Usdaw news releases via our online e-news service.

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