Scottish shopworkers say NO to big stores opening on Christmas and New Year’s Day

Retail union Usdaw says an overwhelmingly majority of Scottish retail staff support a new bill that aims to ban large stores from opening on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The Christmas Day and New Year’s Day (Scotland) Bill is currently being scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament's Justice 2 Committee and if passed would prohibit stores exceeding 280 square metres – about the size of a tennis court - from opening on those two holidays.

The union has run a high profile campaign to back the bill after consulting Usdaw members who overwhelmingly said they were opposed to stores opening on those special holidays which is contrary to claims made by the Scottish CBI.

“Our members in Scotland already work extremely long hours over the holiday period,” says Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett. “They have made it crystal clear to us that Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are long established family days and they want to spend precious time with their families on those holidays.

“The Scottish CBI claims there is demand from staff to work on New Year’s Day for financial reasons, but the vast majority of our members have told us they want more time with their families during the holiday season and we have found absolutely no evidence that they are desperate to sacrifice that for extra income.

“We welcome the Scottish CBI acknowledging that at the moment no stores will want to open on Christmas Day but New Year’s Day is also clearly a holiday of special significance in Scotland so we will continue to campaign to make it illegal for big stores to open on both those days.

“The Bill will actually create a level playing field for retailers as many employers don’t want to open on that day but would feel forced to open if their competitors did. This bill would stop that snowball effect and offer some protection to Scottish shopworkers who already work very long hours in Scotland which already has the most deregulated shopping environment in the world.

“While the retailers are split on this issue the bill commands support from shopworkers, MSPs and the Scottish public who have signed up to our petitions supporting the bill in their droves.

“Shop staff in the rest of the UK have always enjoyed two statutory days when large shops have to close on Christmas Day and Easter Day. This bill will level the playing field for hard-working staff in Scotland and there is no compelling evidence that stores closing on those days will have a negative impact on the Scottish economy or on tourism.”

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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