Polish union adamant over Sunday shopping ban

Piotr Duda, leader of the Solidarity trade union, told IAR that his union did not agree to "any further concessions” amid a push to restrict trade on Sundays in Poland.

"Four free Sundays [a month], period, end of story," Duda said, as quoted by IAR.

He made the comment after an organisation representing some of Poland’s retailers suggested that grocery stores across the country should be allowed to keep their doors open every Sunday, while employees could be provided with guarantees of at least two free Sundays a month.

According to Radosław Knap, director-general of the Polish Council of Shopping Centres, such an arrangement “would be beneficial for both employees and the economy.”

Solidarity’s Duda brushed off these suggestions, according to IAR. He argued that the proposal tabled by his union and several other organisations in parliament last year “has already undergone a far-reaching metamorphosis,” and the number of exceptions to a prohibition has since been expanded.

He also voiced his belief that regulations limiting shopping on Sundays in Poland would take effect from 1 January following accelerated work by a parliamentary subcommittee dealing with the matter and currently headed by Janusz Śniadek, a former Solidarity chairman.

Duda also noted that the bill to limit Sunday trading in Poland had been supported by more than half a million citizens before it reached parliament in September last year.

Observers point out that the proposal provides for a number of exceptions. Among these is unrestricted trade on seven specific Sundays of the year.

A survey commissioned by Poland’s Rzeczpospolita daily - and conducted by pollster IBRiS around the time when the proposal was submitted last year - suggests that Poles are divided on a ban, with 50 percent wanting to shop on Sundays and 46 percent arguing the opposite. (str/pk)

Source: IAR, Rzeczpospolita