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Shop Trading Hours

February 27th, 2004 at 5:25 am by David Farrar

The Dom Post reports that we may get some more sanity to our shop trading laws and allow shopping on Easter Sunday. About time too.

I have never been able to work out that if you have:

a) Employees wanting to work and earn more money
b) Employers wanting to open
c) Customers wanting to shop

how we justify the state telling them all that it is illegal to do so.

I do agree with the CTU that it is sensible and desirable that employees be given the option to refuse to work, but as long as one has that provision I would allow trading 365 days a year if enough employees, employers and customers decide it is viable.

Related posts:

  1. Easter Trading Bill
  2. Shop Trading Restrictions
  3. Another blow to sensible shop trading laws
  4. My annual rant on Easter trading
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3 Responses to “Shop Trading Hours”

  1. Idiot/Savant Says:
    February 28th, 2004 at 1:02 am

    I agree; provided workers can refuse (or receive a day-in-lieu and possibly extra pay if they work), then I have no problem with this.

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  2. Alex Davidson Says:
    February 28th, 2004 at 4:39 pm

    I disagree – Oh yes, the supermarket checkout girl can legally refuse to work, but being on a semi-causual, non-permanant basis, she better not expect any hours next week.

    Like any situation where an employee is able to ‘negotiate’ with their employer – sounds good if you’re a lawyer, doctor, etc. But for young people in minimum wage jobs and negotian is soley one-way.

    There are now only 2 days a year (Christmas and Easter) where people are not able to shop – leaving aside the debate as to the relavancy of those holidays to all of NZ (I’m not complaining about the time off), surely people can find something else to do for those 2 days!

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  3. David Farrar Says:
    February 29th, 2004 at 1:14 am

    That isn’t true Alex. First of all a young employee can join a Union if they have problems with their employer. Secondly in my considerable experience the young supermarket girls are the ones who most want to earn some extra money and are peeved off they can not.

    Also most places are big enough that the main problem with the roster is turning people down for the chance to earn extra money.

    It is just plain silly that one can shop on Easter Saturday and Easter Monday but not the day in-between.

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