Usdaw lobbyists say extending Sunday shopping hours would be 'bad news' for shopworkers' families

Usdaw members lobby Westminster

Retail union Usdaw will send a team of lobbyists to Westminster to tell the new team of ministers at the Department of Trade and Industry that extending Sunday shopping hours would have a devastating impact on the family lives of Britain’s 3.1 million shopworkers.

The Department have published an independent cost/benefit analysis looking at the possible extension of the six hour limit on Sunday trading hours for large stores and have invited organisations from both sides of the debate to put their case to new Ministers at a ‘Stakeholder Conference’ to be held in Westminster on Wednesday with new DTI Minister Jim Fitzpatrick.

Outgoing Trade Minister Gerry Sutcliffe attended the union’s annual conference in Blackpool and heard powerful testimony from shopworkers about the negative impact on their family lives if Sunday shopping hours are extended. Usdaw lobbyists will be informing the new minister that:

• 95% of retail staff are totally opposed to any longer opening hours

• Over half of retail staff are already put under pressure from managers to work on Sundays when they don’t want to

The retail lobbyists will also remind Ministers that an independent Usdaw survey found 64% of shoppers don’t want any more shopping hours.

The union says the report of the economic cost-benefit analysis, published by the DTI last Friday, fails to take any account of the negative impact on the family lives of Britain’s shopworkers.

“Any proposal to extend Sunday shopping is bad news for shopworkers as it will have a devastating impact on the time our members can spend with their families because the reality is that it will mean 10 hour Sundays for many of our members,” said Usdaw general secretary John Hannett. “Although the report touches on the impact on shopworkers lives, the consultants did not speak to or survey any retail staff, but simply assumed that some, such as students and single parents, would want to work more hours on a Sunday.

“Usdaw’s survey of over 4,000 shopworkers has shown in fact that 95% of staff oppose longer Sunday opening. One third want to work less hours on Sundays and only 3% wanted to work for any longer.

“Usdaw will make sure that their voice is heard because extending shopping hours means hard working retail staff will come under even more pressure to cut their precious family time to work longer Sunday shifts.

“Usdaw’s message on this issue is loud and clear: we don’t think extending the present six hour limit is good for shopworkers or business. So we’ll make our well researched case to the Department of Trade and Industry that the present six hour limit is working well, so there is no need to lengthen the hours our members already have to work on Sundays.”

Notes to Editors:

• 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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© 2003 (USDAW) Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
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