A UNION representing thousands of shopworkers in the north has said 92 per cent of its members are opposed to longer Sunday trading hours in Belfast.
USDAW carried out the survey as part of its response to a Belfast City Council consultation focusing on enhancing the city centre for Sunday visitors. The consultation, which closed on January 17, was launched as part of the effort to boost footfall in the city in the wake of the economic damage caused by the fire at Primark’s Bank Buildings store in August 2018.
But while the process is exploring ways to accommodate the growing number of weekend tourists and visitors to Belfast, USDAW, which represents 18,300 workers in the north, said that any enhanced offering must not include longer Sunday opening hours.
The union’s general secretary, Paddy Lillis, said allowing large stores to open for longer hours on Sundays would have a negative impact on retail workers, their families and communities.
“Longer Sunday trading would take a heavy toll on staff who would come under even more pressure to work, when they would rather be spending time with family and engaging in community, sports, and leisure activities or attending church,” he said.
“There would also be a detrimental impact on smaller retailers who can already open longer hours on Sundays. These traders rely on the boost in trade they get on Sunday morning, with St George's Market being a prime example.
“Even supporters of extended Sunday opening hours have not been able to show it will lead to economic benefits or job creation. Opening shops for longer does not mean people have more money to spend. We all want to see a strong and diverse retail sector, but that means striking the right balance.”
He urged the council to listen to the “emphatic” response from shopworkers.
Glyn Roberts of Retail NI said the council has already rejected extended longer trading hours in 2017 and 2018, with a range of stakeholders from business groups to unions expressing oppositions.
“There is also no indication that the economic situation, public opinion or the impact of the proposals on retailers has changed since last year’s consultation,” he said.
“We feel this demonstrates the strength of feeling on Sunday trading and would urge the council to consider all responses on Sunday trading hours in depth.”
Meanwhile, analysis by the Centre for Retail Research has found that 9,949 retail jobs have been lost across the UK since the start of 2020, with
Debenhams, Mothercare and Asda are among several big brands to have closed stores or announced redundancy plans.
A further 1,200 jobs under threat with the collapse of department store Beales and toy retailer Hawkin's Bazaar in the past week.
Other retailers closing stores or cutting jobs include Game, HMV, Arcadia and Morrisons.
Large-scale store closures have been widely blamed on the huge shift to shopping online.
Retail NI boss Glyn Roberts claimed that high streets are not flat-lining, rather he said town and city centres are going through a reconstruction process.
“This will result in very different retail sector. For Retail NI members it is not in any way about managing decline, it is instead about managing the future.
“However unless our broken, antiquated and dysfunctional business rating system is urgently fixed then we will see even more independent retailers closing and further jobs lost.”
