Extension of shopping hours decree leads to medieval working and labour conditions
Statement by Andrea Fakontis, AKEL MP, member of the C.C
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 6th May 2014, Nicosia
The Anastasiades government refuses to hear the cry of anguish sent out by the SMEs and is flagrantly ignoring it, proceeding autocratically towards the renewal of the decrees for new extended shopping hours.
Although it made a committed before the Parliamentary Labour and Social Security Standing Committee that by February it would submit a Bill to the House that would regulate the key issue of shopping opening hours, it has once again proved that yet another government pledge has been broken and remained a mere slogan.
The seven days working week, from Monday to Sunday with 18 working hours per day leads to medieval working and labour conditions, reinforces unfair competition, which delivers the final blow to small businesses and creates many family and social problems.
At the same time, labour rights are being abolished and a multitude of violations of the minimum wage, working hours and collective agreements are taking place.
The government’s and ruling force’s argument that with extended shopping hours turnover in the retail trade has increased and new jobs are being created have been totally refuted by the figures published by the Department of Statistics and Research, which show that in fact turnover in the retail trade fell by 30%, while unemployment in the sector of trade continues to grow.
AKEL, adopting the view of the vast majority of small businesses, urges the government to immediately proceed to the closure of shops on Sunday, with the exception of stores in tourist areas as was the case beforehand. At the same time, we call on it even at this stage to proceed to the preparation of a Bill that will provide a definitive solution to this serious problem, given that the repeated decrees have almost established liberalized working hours, causing incalculable consequences on SMEs and a host of reactions from working people.
