Minister calls for shops to stay closed at Christmas

Trade
and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt is calling for shops to stay closed over
Christmas to protect the holidays of thousands of low-paid retail staff.

Hewitt
is writing to all the major stores urging them to respect 25 December as a
religious holiday and keep the day special.

She
is concerned that a 24-hour shopping culture is depriving check-out staff and
shelf-stackers of precious time off. She is calling for the stores to stay
closed.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

If
the warnings are ignored by the industry, the Government could introduce a new
law forcing them to stop trading on Christmas Day.

By Ross Wigham