Sunday work & Co. Commerce sector in Europe Fabrice Warneck UNI Europa commerce

Commerce in Europe 33 million workers in E.U. Retail and wholesale Very high competition (SMEs) but low competion rules Multinational companies: Carrefour ( ), Tesco ( ), Metro (Makro, Mediamarkt ), IKEA ( ), H&M ( ), …

Involuntary part-time Share of involuntary part-time employees in retail, % of total part-time employees (2007) Source: Eurostat/ LFS Note: Exception to reference year: LU and SK (2006)

Eurofound preliminary findings (1) companies with + 10 workers

All sectors Year 2007/( Eurofound « working time in the E.U. and other global economies ») up to 50% of employees work at least one Saturday a month some 25% work at least one Sunday a month about 25% of employees work on Saturdays but never on Sundays, 23% work at least one Saturday and one Sunday a month. four times a month : 15% of workers are usually at the workplace on Saturdays, some 5% report working regularly on Sundays, and 4% usually work on both Saturdays and Sundays.

Year 2007/ ( Eurofound « working time in the E.U. and other global economies ») In the US, the share of employees who do not work on weekends is higher than in the EU: almost two-thirds of all wage and salary workers only usually work on weekdays. In the EU, in hotels and restaurants, where employees who work on Saturdays represent 80% of the total workforce (65% on Sundays), wholesale and retail trade 60% Saturdays (20 % on Sundays), as well as transport and communication, Saturdays is 60% (35% on Sundays respectively).

Why opening longer hours ? Late evening opening and Sunday opening of shops = good for consumers ? For the economy ? Who takes care of children ? Impact on family life. What impact on health ? Stress, overload. What compensation ? Rest, money, none. What impact on environment ? (air conditioning, light, refrigiration). What kind of society do we want ? Leisure or consumerism ? What impact on other sectors (childcare, public transport, cleaning, security, logistics)

Sunday Shop opening in E.U. heterogeneous Situations Open Sunday without restrictions: Czeck Rep., Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden Weak restrictions: Hongrie, Icelande, Irelande, Luxembourg, Portugal, U.K. (6 hours) Strong restrictions: small businesses, tourist areas, food shops only, number of days restricted Open from Monday to Friday 24H / 24 H : Czeck Rep., Estonia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norvay, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, U.K.

European campaign -Building a European Alliance for work free Sundays -Trade union movement, churches, SMEs, politicians, … -Conference 24th March: 400 people at E.P. -Influencing the working time directive ? -Sector (de) regulation ?