Should shops be open on sunday for the olympics?

[DTCwordfan]

(i) General Views as to Opening "all hours" the period of the Olympics

(ii) as a means of boosting the economy, Osbourne's words, is this the thin end of a wedge?

(iii) does the Church really have a leg to stand on re secular England and Wales?

(iv) what about the Confed of Small Businesses and the Union (two different positions on this of course)?

[bednobs]

lol have you read the post 2 down?

[mushroom25]

should shops be open on sundays for the olympics?

yes.

but, emergency legislation (which will be necessary to permit this) has a habit of being rushed and badly drafted - which might lead to all sorts of unforseen and unintended consequences.

[d9f1c7]

Sorry, am I missing something? The shops are already open on Sunday's, well they are round here anyway.

[FredPuli43]

Our present law on Sunday trading is a compromise. Those who wanted Sunday trading as on a weekday had to compromise with those who didn't want it at all and those who wanted severe restrictions. So big supermarkets etc open for 6 hours,!0-4, but small shops can open as on weekdays. It does't make a lot of sense that the local Shell garage or your corner shop can open as normal because their retailing surface area is below the statutory limit but your local B & Q or big Tesco can't.

Times change. If the government was to propose universal opening now, it's unlikely that it would find much opposition. This 'temporary' measure is a good test. We will see it made permanent at some stage.

[DTCwordfan]

for England it is a maximum of 6 hours for supermarkets, out of town centres, garden centres and this is being extended.

The Church is objecting, so is the Confederation of Small Businesses as obviously they "benefit" on a Sunday, but also the Unions as this puts pressure on longer hours for staff working on Sunday...and some think that this will even lead to offices working.....

I think it is a good test too and leads to a lot more flexibility for folk to watch the Games - as well as the chance for some to earn real overtime money, but then I guess we will see the "those who have it and those who don't" arguments spewing out.

[rov1100]

They need to work these unsocial hours and shop assistants are some of the worst paid in any profession. No doubt employers will demand they work these hours or get the sack. Instead of changing shop opening hours customers should be trained to shop at normal opening hours.

[FredPuli43]

"Normal opening hours"? Does that mean hours when the rest of the working world is at work? Fine when women were housewives only and not working outside the home.
Employers will require staff to work evening or night shifts in other businesses; why should retailing be any different? It's otherwise if employers are requiring staff to work longer hours than allowed by law or standard contract.
Must say, I do wonder about 24 hour supermarkets. Who it is who needs to visit Tesco at 3 a.m.? Plainly enough people like or need to, or Tesco wouldn't be open.. Mind, we are behind the US. There has been a 24 hour bed store in New York for years. Just the thing if you need a new divan at 4 a.m!

[jno]

I've been in Tesco at 3am and the answer is "not many". But they have staff there restacking the shelves and figure that paying a couple more to man the tills is probably cost-effective since the shops are in use anyway.

But I wonder how the staff themselves feela bout this? Some may welcome the hours and any extra pay involved. Others may hate it, e specially if it's compulsory.

[what..the?]

yes so the unemployed can get part time work to get them on the employment ladder. The Sunday jobs should just be for the currently unemployed only.

[trt]

I cant see that a few (is it 3 or 4) weekends of the Olympics would help the boosting of the economy!

[flip_flop]

Businesses should be free to trade when they like.

An anachronistic organisation which spouts ridiculous fairy tales should have no sway over opening hours in a largely secular country such as ours.