‘New shop hours infringe on workers’ religious rights’

By George Psyllides – August 2013

AFTER exhausting almost all other avenues of complaint, small businesses yesterday appealed for the Church’s help to reverse a decree that extended shop hours, which they said was depriving workers of the right to exercise their religion.

“The Church and the Archbishop ought to intervene since the order deprives shop workers of the right to perform their religious duties,” Stefanos Koursaris, head of their association (POVEK) said. The appeal came as POVEK filed a motion at the Supreme Court to have the order rescinded.

The order extending shop hours was issued by the government in July in a bid to boost businesses and cut unemployment. It allows retailers to stay open for longer, including Wednesday afternoons and Sundays.

The state was basically extending so-called tourist hours, to all areas across the Republic. The decision irked POVEK, which claimed it was made to serve the interests of a few large retailers.

The association warned it would be the end of SMEs who managed to survive the crisis so far. Koursaris said POVEK would ask parliament to look into the matter but it would also discuss with other organisations how to proceed.

He also censured employers’ organisations KEVE and OEV, wondering if they had noticed that 90 per cent of SMEs had not embraced the measure. Koursaris said any increase in the turnover of large businesses came from SMEs’ lost revenues.

“You realise that consumption cannot be increased by extending work hours,” he said. “Consumption is simply channelled to specific directions, serving the interests of a dozen or so large business owners – malls and supermarket chains.”

The PEO trade union said the measure did not make a significant dent in unemployment.

The union conceded there had been a small improvement as regards employment but those hired were mostly students, hired part-time for Wednesdays and Sundays.

PEO representative Charalambos Pratsis charged that complaints concerning workers forced to work more hours with no extra pay persisted.

Pratsis said the complaints had been submitted to the labour ministry whose relevant service was understaffed however and it took time to investigate. Employers OEV rejected POVEK’s allegations, suggesting that signs were encouraging.

Retail trade turnover increased and a few hundred unemployed individuals have found work, even on part-time basis, OEV said, adding that consumers were very happy with the new times.

“For the past three decades, POVEK has been fighting against every effort to broaden retail trade’s regulatory framework, claiming every time that it will be the end of small shops,” OEV said. “The reality of the past 30 years disproves POVEK since through gradual improvements, shops of all sizes have flourished.”

OEV said going to court was POVEK’s right but it was saddening to see an association of professionals trying to ban entrepreneurs from exercising their profession through court orders.

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