leyton.org

It seems that the campaign to extend opening hours on Sundays has had a setback in England and Wales. Hugely ironic that a Scottish MP took the decision (another example of the West-Lothian question that I’m sure will be (ab)used by the Tories) - Here in Scotland we have genuine 24 hour opening, and Sundays seem pretty much the same as other days as far as shop opening hours are concerned.

I think this whole restriction of who can work, or open, what on what particular day is a bit anachronistic to say the least. We have legislation in place to ensure that people are entitled to particular amounts of holiday and free time, and there are plenty of people who know nothing different than working on weekends when it’s necessary. Any sort of care organisation, service organisation, expects to work on any day of the week, or year, demanded - As a family we got quite used to my mum working on christmas day. Actually, we sort of embrace it now, and pitch in to help out so (we hope) she finishes earlier, although I don’t think that ever happened

The campaigners, a religious pressure group under the covers, seek to “protect” relationships, businesses, and “ways of life”. All well and good, but why by their standards? Sunday is only really a christian day of rest after all. Not much good if your holy day is Friday. People still have choice too, and can - and should - state and consider their sensitivities when considering job options. There really are plenty of alternatives in a high-employment economy, even for low-skill roles or part-time work, plus longer opening hours would actually create more jobs, which is rarely considered a bad thing, so why here?

It all just boils down to one group of campaigners and an overly touchy-feely government trying to bring back a by-gone age that nobody, in an increasingly secular country, really wants. Shop workers deserve - as every similar worker surely does - the protection of a union, but they really shouldn’t be singled out for special treatment on what days they can and can’t work, when it hasn’t applied to the vast majority of people in all trades and professions, for a long time.

The sooner the rest of the UK does as Scotland does, and ditches the distinction in one part of the economy between one day, and every other day, the better for all concerned.

See also mysundaymychoice.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 6th, 2006 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Atheism, Personal, Politics, Scotland, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.