Usdaw kids tell Trade Ministers extending Sunday opening hours will ruin shopworkers’ family life

Retail union Usdaw has sent a crack team of junior lobbyists to tell trade ministers that extending Sunday opening hours will have a devastating impact on the lives of millions of shopworkers and their families.

The union’s young ambassadors were helping their parents deliver a submission opposing any extension of Sunday opening hours as part of a review of the current six hour limit commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry.

  “It was fitting that our members’ children helped deliver our submission that makes it clear six trading hours is quite enough time to shop on a Sunday,” says Usdaw general secretary John Hannett.  “They were all carrying speech bubbles with messages from Usdaw children who see little enough of their parents already. When I read one that said quite simply ‘How can we have Mother’s Day without mum’ then it really brought it home just how wrong it would be to extend Sunday shopping hours.

  “Not surprisingly 95% of our members oppose any extension of Sunday shopping hours and when we commissioned a poll of Britain’s shoppers we found 64% of them didn’t need any longer to spend their money on Sundays.

  “So far over 250 MPs from across the political spectrum support us, so our message to the DTI is loud and clear: shoppers don’t want it, shopworkers don’t want it, their families don’t want it and nearly half of Parliament is opposed.  So please think again and keep the limit at six hours.”

  The junior lobbyists were joined by their parents who work on Sundays and working mother Debbie Davidson is typical of shopworkers facing a weekly battle to achieve a proper work/life balance.

  "I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say that Sunday is a traditional day of rest, so it should be a day to spend with the family and a day when as a family we can do something together,” Debbie said.   “Retail staff work long enough already to serve customers for the 6 hours that we trade. We look forward to having Sunday tea together because we can no longer have Sunday lunch together.”

  Notes to Editors:

- Contacts for newsdesks: Paul Clarke – Usdaw media officer - can be contacted on 0161 224 2804 or at paul.clarke@usdaw.org.uk.

- Pictures of the lobby are available from Paul Clarke.

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