Usdaw members launch campaign in Bridgwater against extending Sunday shopping hours

Members from the Bridgwater branch of retail union Usdaw hit the streets of the town to tell shoppers why the union is opposed to any extension of Sunday shopping hours for big stores.

Union activists Danny Gee and Tracey Lowther set up a street stall under the Blake statue handing out leaflets and collecting names on a petition in support of the union’s Save Our Sundays campaign making the case for retaining the existing six hour opening hours for large stores.

“Usdaw conducted a poll of its members and found that 94% of us don’t want to work longer hours on Sundays,” Tracey Lowther said. “Those of us who have to work on Sundays know it is the only day in an increasingly busy retail week where we have a fighting chance of getting home to spend quality time with our families.

“Save Our Sundays not about turning the clock back and saying stores have to close on Sundays. All we are saying is that shopworkers want a proper work/life balance so increasing the hours large stores can open will have a devastating impact on the time we can spend with our families doing simple things like having Sunday lunch.

“We’ve had a really good response from shoppers in Bridgwater who were very supportive when they heard our strong case, but we weren’t that surprised as when we did an independent poll of Britain’s shopping public we discovered 64% of them said they were happy with the six hour limit.”

The Usdaw team were also handing out specially designed postcards asking MPs to sign an Early Day motion in Parliament opposing extending Sunday shopping hours. So far 273 MPs from across the political spectrum have signed the motion, sponsored by Brian Jenkins MP, opposing any extension to the present six hour limit that large stores can open on Sundays.

“Britain’s 3.1 million retail workers now have the support of nearly half of MPs but Bridgwater’s MP hasn’t signed yet,” said Danny Gee. “So we’re hoping enough shoppers send the postcards to Ian Liddell-Grainger so he’ll change his mind and sign the EDM which has already attracted support from over 40 Tory MPs.

“We want to remind him that 64% of Britain’s shoppers are opposed to any further extension of the hours as are a large number of his constituents who work in Bridgwater’s retail sector and we think 150 hours a week shopping is quite enough even for the most hardened consumer.”

Notes to Editors:

• See how the Bridgwater Mercury featured this campaign on their web site.
• 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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