Like Poland just has, we should say no to Sunday trading and bring back a day of enforced rest
TODAY is the traditional day for frenzied Christmas shopping in Ireland. For generations, December 8 was a milestone on the Irish calendar and marked the day when people from ‘the country’ came to Dublin to buy presents. In a way, it marked the start of Christmas.
No more. You’d want to be blind not to notice that preparation for Christmas started a long time ago. Brown Thomas on Dublin’s Grafton Street has had a Christmas shop open since August.
Shopping centres have been bedecked with decorations since before Halloween and many bars and restaurants have had Christmas trees up and carols on the playlist since early November.
It all makes for a long, dragged-out festive season where many people feel under immense pressure to spend money they may not have.
It’s remarkable how the celebration of Christ’s humble birth in a provincial backwater has become so much about commerce.
Both ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ are behind us even before Advent – the traditional season of anticipation leading up to Christmas – begins.
Some shops now even start their January sales a couple of days before Christmas in a bid to create a sense among shoppers that they are getting bargains ahead of everyone else. Looked at in one way, it’s all very cynical.
Now, I’ve always loved Christmas. And, as well as the religious significance the day itself holds for Christians, it’s a great time to show appreciation for loved ones with gifts, and to spend time together. And the eating and drinking is all part of this.
Pubs and most shops still close on Christmas Day itself, and for most people it is the one occasion each year when they can truly take a break from consumerism.
Not that long ago, every week had a day like that.
Up until relatively recently, Sunday trading was rare in Ireland.
Now, in many shopping centres, trading is brisker on the traditional day of rest than it is on a Saturday.
People live busy lives, and many see Sunday trading simply as a response to a growing need for people who want to shop flexibly.
There is a downside, of course. Many people now have to work on a Sunday to cater for this flexibility.
I was talking to a woman who works for a big grocery chain a couple of weeks back.
She works five days a week, but the five days usually include a Sunday. She often has a day off during the week when her husband is at work and her children are in school.
Apart from the evenings, she rarely has any quality time to spend with her family. She is not a religious woman, but laments the loss of a sense of a day that is set aside for rest and family.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. The Polish parliament has just voted to phase out Sunday trading by 2020.
This is not – as one might expect – a proposal from the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party aimed at reasserting traditional religious sensibilities.
In fact, the proposal first came from the left – from trade unions. The unions say they are responding to calls from workers who want a day to be set aside when they can rest and be together with their families.
Under the Polish plan, Sunday trading will still be permitted on the Sundays before major holidays such as Christmas.
The legislation has faced opposition from bodies representing multinationals, nervous that their profits will take a hit.
On the other hand, the move seems to be enormously popular among the public, which sees it as a step in enhancing workers’ rights.
It’s a concrete example of the government intervening in the marketplace in favour of a better work-life balance for workers.
The Polish economy won’t grind to a halt, of course. People who need to shop will find other times and other ways to so do.
In fact, Germany – the economic powerhouse of Europe – permits Sunday shopping on just a few days a year, usually in the run-up to Christmas.
The phasing out of Sunday
The legislation has faced opposition from bodies representing multinationals, nervous that their profits will take a hit
opening is something worth considering in Ireland.
Even if it was only to affect shopping centres or large department stores.
I don’t think anyone objects to local corner shops opening on a Sunday to sell newspapers and items forgotten from the weekly shop.
But full-scale commerce on every single day of the week gives the impression that citizens are economic units necessary to serve the needs of the market rather than people with families and loved ones and a felt need for rest and relaxation.
It would be a brave politician who would take up the cause in Ireland, even though it is something that left-leaning and social democratic politicians concerned about workers’ rights should see as a ready-made win.
In this they could find common cause with right-leaning people who would feel attracted by the focus on family values.
It would be an uphill struggle. As well as the powerful lobbies representing the various vested interests who profit from Sunday trading, the unresolved relationship many Irish people have with the Church could also lead to a reactionary knee-jerk fear that people are trying to return us to the past.
But, in a country where we’re used to talk of donning the green jersey for the sake of the economy, something that would put family life ahead of the market’s seeming insatiable desire for consumption might be much more popular with voters than politicians would imagine.