Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Failure to enforce the law, no matter how honourable the motive, is a big step for any public authority to take and we urge extreme caution. We share the desire to help healthcare workers, they deserve our full support and appreciation, so to provide additional shopping hours is an understandable response to the impact of the Coronavirus emergency on their lives.

“However, we want some absolute assurances that this is not a backdoor attempt to introduce extended Sunday trading, after the city council has four times failed to persuade councillors in the last three years. Usdaw members working in retail remain overwhelmingly opposed to longer Sunday trading, along with many of Belfast’s retailers.

“Supermarket staff are working long hours, feeding the nation in difficult circumstances and under a great deal of pressure, they need a break. It isn’t too much to ask for a shorter day on Sundays. Deregulating trading hours will put more pressure on staff to work and that causes more problems with finding childcare. While, as essential workers, they are able to access school services during the week, there is no provision on Sundays.

“I’m sure shopworkers will understand the motive for this decision, but they will be deeply concerned if retailers go beyond what is absolutely necessary. We need Belfast City Council to guarantee that this is a time-limited policy and that they will return to their duties to enforce the law as soon as possible. We also need to know that the city council will ensure that any additional trading hours are tightly limited and only available to essential workers and vulnerable people.”

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 400,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion